


Bite Me

by DeceitfulHonesty



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, College AU, F/F, Vampire AU, Werewolf AU, blood mention, mythical creatures AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-19
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-18 16:11:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9392834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeceitfulHonesty/pseuds/DeceitfulHonesty
Summary: Nobody likes a know-it-all. Daisy just so happens to have one in her class in the form of Jemma Simmons, who constantly corrects everyone's historical knowledge. One day, Daisy snaps at her and finds out a dark secret about Jemma and her entire school.





	1. Chapter 1

Daisy gulped and glanced down at her notecards. Normally, she would have just skimmed the research, thrown together a 2-slide powerpoint, and made something up on the fly for the oral presentation. For this assignment, though, she had a powerful motivator to excel: spite. 

Daisy threw a quick glare to the front row where her least favorite classmate, Jemma Simmons, was leaning on her propped up elbow on her desk, looking bored as usual. Jemma was the primary reason Daisy chose this topic to present. Jemma always was such a know-it-all when it came to British history, even to the professor. And the professor _let_ her correct him all the time!

So for this presentation, Daisy put in weeks of research. She read seven books  cover to cover on the downfall of Charles I, and even went back and read the sources they sourced! This powerpoint was a work of art and she even had meticulously organized notecards to make sure she wouldn’t miss anything. 

If she got anything less than 100% on this presentation she was going to give Professor Coulson an earful. 

But her primary focus was Jemma Simmons. If she wasn’t such a pain in the ass in class every day, she would be exactly Daisy’s type. Cute, smart, kind of awkward, a mischievous twinkle in her eye every time she was about to say something snarky. 

Unfortunately, usually that snarky comment was directed at Daisy so it was less cute. 

Daisy had gotten through the entire presentation without a peep from Jemma (though she was pretty sure the sorority girls in the back were Snapchatting each other through the whole thing). Now, she just had to wrap it up. 

Daisy clicked the slide to the painting she found of Charles I walking up to his execution and flipped to the next notecard. 

“Charles I was sentenced to death on January 30, 1648. As he climbed the scaffold, his last words were 'I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the world,'“ Daisy concluded. 

The 'last words’ bit was a little dramatic for Daisy’s taste, typically, but she thought it added a little spice to the otherwise dry subject. She noticed most of the students were actually paying attention now and looking interested. 

And then Jemma freaking Simmons had to mumble under her breath, “That’s not what happened.”

Here we go. “Sorry, did you have something to say?” Daisy asked with false sweetness. 

Jemma barely looked up from her notebook where she was now doodling in the margins. “I was just saying that’s not what happened. Are you sure you were using reputable sources?”

Daisy felt her eye twitch as she clicked to the last slide of her sources with maybe a little more force than was strictly necessary. “Yeah, I did. All were published books that used first hand accounts that people who were at the execution wrote right afterwards.”

“Did they all use the same source perhaps?”

Daisy’s eye twitched again. They had, in fact. “Yeah, he was a very reliable historian who—”

“He was a bloody liar, is what he was,” Jemma grumbled under her breath. 

Oh, hell no. Daisy read the first-hand account, which she practically had to translate, since it was written in Ye Olde English where all the ’s’s were 'f’s and there were 'e’s where they shouldn’t be. That was the last straw for Daisy. 

“ _How would you know?!”_ she shouted, throwing down her notecards. 

“ _BECAUSE I WAS THERE,”_ Jemma screamed back. 

All fidgeting and bored shuffling stilled so the room fell deadly silent. As the vitriol faded from Jemma’s face, wide-eyed horror replaced it. Before Daisy could form a question, Jemma was gathering up her books. 

“Excuse me, I have somewhere I need to be,” she grumbled, piling all her books into her arms and darting for the door. 

Professor Coulson slowly stood and strolled to the front of the classroom. “Um, class dismissed. See you all Thursday. Excellent presentation, Daisy.”

Daisy tossed a quick 'thanks' in his direction, before throwing her bag over her shoulder and sprinting after Jemma. She wasn’t getting off that easy. 

She quickly caught sight of Jemma’s brown hair, weaving through the crowd of students just released from class. Daisy jogged to catch up to her. 

“Please leave me alone,” Jemma growled. 

“What did you mean 'you were there?' You can’t possibly mean that you were actually alive in 1648,” Daisy prodded, ignoring Jemma’s request. 

“Of course not, that would be absurd,” Jemma replied flatly. 

“But seriously, what did you mean? Are you just that into history that it _feels_ like you were there?” 

“Please go away.” Jemma turned down a less crowded hallway and picked up her pace even more, so Daisy was practically running alongside her. 

“No! If you’re going to continually ruin my presentations with your snarky comments, I deserve to know why you think you know more than the rest of the world,” Daisy demanded. 

Jemma ignored her. 

Daisy was starting to get winded from jogging through the building after Jemma. She reached out and grabbed Jemma’s arm to make her slow her pace. 

“Hey, I’m just trying to—” 

Jemma whirled on her with a hiss. Her eyes flashed red and her angry snarl was punctuated by two long, sharp fangs that Daisy definitely had not noticed before. 

Daisy stumbled backwards and dropped her bag. “What the— You’re—”

Before Daisy could form another non-sentence, a hand grabbed the front of her shirt and she was forcefully shoved into a dark, empty classroom. Daisy cringed in the dark, waiting for those fangs to pierce her skin or for sharp claws to rip her throat out or any of the typical horror movie tropes of…. _vampires_. 

But it never happened. Daisy cracked open an eye and Jemma was standing there with her hands on her hips looking disappointed. 

“You just _had_ to be nosy. You couldn’t just let things be and continue your short little life without knowing about the existence of the creatures in your bedtime stories—”

Daisy was getting lectured. The vampire was going to stand there and lecture her. Typical. 

“I mean, you just had six more weeks of class, but you couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut and let it be and now—”

“Hey! You’re the one who had to keep being a pain about my 'historical inaccuracy,'“ Daisy snapped back with air quotes. She probably shouldn’t be sassing a vampire either, but too late to stop now. “If anyone couldn’t keep their mouth shut, it was you and— wait, did you say _creatures?_ With an ’s'?”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Think back. Don’t some things about this university seem strange to you? Like how there are always more Koenig brothers than you think there are? Or how our swim team never comes close to be beaten, even though they never practice? Or how about Professor Coulson’s spontaneous three month trip to Tahiti in the middle of the semester?”

Daisy wracked her brain. She had never thought too had about it, but there were some weird things she had noticed. Like the massive wall around the main campus and how most of the student body claimed to have seen a pack of wolves roaming just outside campus limits. None of this seemed strange enough to give much thought to, though. “I thought Coulson won a trip from a travel company,” Daisy mused. 

Jemma sighed. “He was dead. He came back to life. He does that from time to time. Koenig can clone himself and the swim team is full of sea nymphs.”

“What?” Daisy staggered back until she hit the concrete wall. “So the whole school is full of monsters?”

Jemma winced. Maybe that wasn’t quite the right word to use. “Only about 50% of the student population is non-human. The other 50% has no clue. They get to carry on living their oblivious lives without this knowledge. And we’re going to keep it that way.”

Jemma stepped into Daisy’s space and Daisy tensed, expecting the worst. Jemma’s eyes had returned to their usual caramelly brown, but they were no less piercing. Daisy’s vision narrowed to the single point that was Jemma as her eyes bored into Daisy and she felt like she was sinking into the floor. She had to squeeze her eyes shut and shake her head to get rid of the feeling.  

“Forget everything you’ve learned in the past ten minutes. We have a very delicate balance at this school and it’s not wise to to upset it, so don’t even think of blabbing this information to the world. You will not only put yourself in harm’s way, you will get me in trouble. And know that I was around during the creation of every medieval torture device you’ve ever heard of and some too heinous to even record, so I’d advise you stay off the radar. Understood?”

Even though Jemma spoke at barely above a whisper, Daisy’s ears were ringing at the end of her speech (threat?) and Daisy suspected it had nothing to do with the volume of the room. 

“Um…yes?” Daisy croaked out. 

Jemma took a step back and smiled. “Good. Sleep well.”

Without another word, she breezed from the room, leaving Daisy alone. The second she rounded the corner, Daisy gasped in a breath like she had been underwater for hours, a weight that Daisy hadn’t noticed lifting from her chest. 

Well, the rest of the semester sure was going to be interesting.


	2. She's a Nightmare

Daisy barely slept that night. Every thump against the wall or creak of the floor in her dorm was some creature of the night coming to kill her. The flickering street lamp that shone its light through her window created moving shadows of nightmare creatures on the opposite wall, but it was worse when it flicked off and Daisy could see nothing.  

When she did finally doze, she dreamed of a dark path. Somewhere in the distance, there was light, but Daisy was too far away for it to do her any good. The path was abandoned, but Daisy could feel eyes on her from somewhere in the shadows. She moved towards the light as quickly as she could manage, despite typical dream mechanics making it impossible for her to run as any reasonable speed. The sense of eyes on her faded as she approached. 

And then, out of the silence and blackness, something appeared in Daisy’s vision. A flash of light brown hair and a gleam of sharp, white fangs were the last things she saw. 

Daisy jolted up in bed, flailed and knocked the lamp off her nightstand. 

“What’s wrong?” her roommate, Bobbi hissed. 

Daisy’s gaze snapped to her voice. Bobbi was lying on her stomach in bed, braced so she could launch herself at any moment, and somehow brandishing a baseball bat. Daisy furrowed her brow in confusion for a moment (did she have that under her pillow or something?) before she took a breath and ran her hands through her hair. 

“Nothing,” she whispered back, “Just a…bad dream.”

Even in the darkness Daisy could tell Bobbi was skeptical, but she murmured an acknowledgment and rolled over so her back was to Daisy. 

Daisy flopped back on her pillow and stared up at the flickering shadows on the ceiling, willing herself to forget the dream. 

This sure was going to be an interesting rest of semester.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy never really felt anxious to go to a class before, but today was different. She told herself it was because she was excited to see what grade she got on her phenomenal presentation, but she knew it was a lie. 

She adjusted her backpack on her shoulder before she pushed through the doors to the lecture hall. 

And the first face to greet her was, of course, Jemma Simmons. Well, she didn't really greet Daisy, since she was locked in a tense discussion with Professor Coulson. Jemma’s eyes flashed to Daisy when she stepped into the room. She met Daisy’s eyes and scanned her with a accusatory glare. 

She seemed to be waiting for Daisy to do something. Probably pull out a stake and holy water or scream and run for the hills, shrieking her newfound knowledge for the world to hear. 

Daisy did none of those. She met Jemma’s eyes firmly, though she could feel her heart rate speed up at the fervid attention from someone Daisy knew could snap her neck if she slipped up. 

Then, Jemma looked away and back to Coulson and Daisy could breathe again. The entire encounter lasted maybe a second, though it felt like an eternity. Daisy marched past Jemma and Coulson and up the aisle to her usual spot near the back. 

The rest of the students seemed unperturbed by the commotion of the last class. Everyone seemed to have unconsciously chosen to sit at least one seat further away from Jemma, however. Other than that, their behavior was unchanged. The sorority girls were still on their phones in the back, the stoner who was only taking the class for the credit was already snoring softly on his desk. Everything was so ridiculously unchanged that it was driving Daisy crazy. 

And then _the vampire_ took her seat in the front. 

  Coulson pulled up the Powerpoint for the lecture and jumped into the lesson as if the last one hadn’t turned Daisy’s world upside down. Daisy did her best to focus on Coulson’s lecture, but her mind wandered and she drifted from taking notes to doodling in the margins. 

The abstract scribbles turned into shadowy monsters with black eyes and sharp claws. Daisy scribbled them out and decided to only draw cute things. She doodled a tiny mermaid in the corner, because it was the first thing that came to mind that didn't have teeth. Then, she started to wonder if there were mermaids at this school, too. 

She knew who she could ask. Her eyes found the back of Jemma’s head a few rows down from her. Jemma had a notebook sitting in front of her, but there was very little written in it. Daisy guessed that when someone had lived through the events, it was somewhat unnecessary to write down details. 

When it sounded like Coulson was wrapping up the lecture, Daisy haphazardly shoved her things into her bag and slung it over her shoulder. Her curiosity was definitely outweighing her sense of self-preservation again. 

Daisy was out of her seat before Coulson finished officially dismissing them. The rest of her classmates slowly shuffled their things together around her. Someone poked the stoner out of his nap. 

But Daisy’s eyes were on Jemma, who closed her notebook and smoothly slid out of her seat and towards the door. Daisy pushed through the throng of students after her. 

Daisy caught up to and walked beside her for a few paces. “Um…hey,” she greeted. 

Jemma’s only response was to shoot her an impatient glare and keep walking. 

“So, um.” Of course, Daisy hadn’t actually thought of anything to say to Jemma once she caught her. Honestly, Daisy hadn't been expecting to get this far. “I wanted to apologize.”

Jemma quirked an eyebrow at her and slowed her pace slightly. Daisy gulped and tried to form her thoughts into words. She was suddenly aware the aura of danger that was coming off Jemma that urged her to run in the opposite direction and never look back. 

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for the other day. I was just frustrated and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you and make you sorta blow your cover,” Daisy managed. 

“Apology accepted,” Jemma replied smoothly, “Although, you were supposed to forget that that conversation ever happened, if I recall correctly.”

Jemma dug a pair of large sunglasses out of her bag and pushed through the doors out of the building. 

Into the blinding sun. 

Whatever Daisy had been about to say in response disappeared as Daisy’s brain conjured images of Dracula bursting into flames at the mere sight of the sun. She jogged after Jemma, unsure if she was trying to stop her or just see what would happen. 

Jemma strolled down the path along the quad, completely unperturbed, with Daisy trailing a bit behind. She noticed that Jemma was favoring the side of the sidewalk that had large, shady trees overhanging it, but otherwise giving no indication that she was bothered by the sunlight. 

“Were you going to say something, or were you just planning on staring at me all day?” Jemma retorted, snapping Daisy out of her shock. 

“I— yes, but…you’re not bothered by the sun?” Daisy blurted. 

Jemma just rolled her eyes. At the next break in the trees, Daisy watched Jemma for a reaction. The sun briefly brushed Jemma’s pale skin before being obscured by the trees again. 

Jemma was unfazed. Her skin wasn’t blistered or even red and she definitely wasn’t a pile of ash on the sidewalk.

“The stereotype of sunlight killing us was just a brand of wishful-thinking propaganda exaggerating a natural sensitivity we have to harsh sunlight, which most of us have made arrangements to minimize,” Jemma finally responded. 

“Wait, what?” Daisy asked. 

“I really shouldn’t go into detail, as you’re still not supposed to know about any of this,” Jemma replied. “But, personally, I have an arrangement with a witch that enables me to go about my life like anyone else.”

“What else is a lie? Did you not actually have to get bitten to get turned? Do you know the person who turned you?” Daisy blurted again, “Do you like…kill people?” For some reason, Daisy couldn’t picture Jemma ever killing someone, even for survival. 

Jemma stopped walking and glowered at Daisy. “How many times do you use the bathroom in a day? What’s your greatest fear? Tell me details about the most traumatic memory of your childhood.”

“Uh—”

“I’m sorry, is it uncomfortable for a virtual stranger to ask you highly personal questions?” Jemma probed. 

Daisy held her hands up in surrender. “Okay, sorry. Forget I asked.”

“Apology accepted. Again,” Jemma replied and resumed walking. Daisy followed, a bit more slowly. “Might I ask what you intend to accomplish by following me around?”

That made Daisy stop. “I…don’t know. Do you want me to leave?”

Daisy braced herself for the harsh _yes_ she could see on Jemma’s lips, but Jemma paused. 

“No. You can stay. I was just about to get lunch,” Jemma replied, softly. 

It wasn’t exactly an invitation, but it sounded close enough to Daisy. Like she was going to pass up the chance to have lunch with someone who’s been alive for more than 400 years. 

They settled into a umbrella covered table outside the dining hall, since Jemma insisted that it was a beautiful day and they didn’t need to cower inside. Daisy grabbed some soggy pizza from the buffet line, while Jemma opted for a very colorful salad. Daisy wondered what the point of eating healthy food was if you were already going to live forever, but she wasn’t going to ask another personal question after her scolding earlier. 

But she still had questions she wanted to ask. 

“So,” Daisy began, “What was Restoration-era England like?”

Jemma raised an eyebrow at her, as if to say 'What did we just talk about?'

Daisy shrugged. “It’s not a personal question. I’ve got a paper coming up and one of my classmates keeps reminding me to use reliable sources.”

That earned Daisy a chuckle. 

“To be honest, I didn’t stick around for long after Charles was executed. Regime changes tend to be dangerous for people on the fringes of society, so I moved out to the country for a few years and avoided politics,” Jemma replied with a shrug. 

“So, even way back then you were a….” Daisy froze. She had mulled the word over in her head for the past few days, but saying it out loud, to Jemma’s face just seemed rude somehow.

Luckily, Jemma just seemed amused. “You can sit here and have lunch with me, but you can’t even say the word?” She chuckled. “But yes, I was a vampire back then. I was relatively new, but I still knew how to avoid an angry mob.”

Jemma just shrugged and went back to her salad. 

Daisy was still bursting with questions. She wanted to ask more, but she figured that might stray into the personal category. “What kind of other…beings go here? Are there any mermaids here? What about ghosts?”

Jemma shot her a disapproving look and responded in a hushed voice, “You’re not even supposed to know about me. I really shouldn’t blurt the secrets of everyone on campus to you.” Daisy responded with a pout and Jemma rolled her eyes. “Fine, but everything I say stays here and no one else finds out I told you,” she hissed. 

Daisy started to get that weird tunnel vision again as Jemma’s eyes bored into her. She really should ask Jemma about that if she ever allowed Daisy to ask personal questions. 

“Honestly, there are too many different kinds of supernatural persons here to list all of them, but I can tell you that there are no ghosts or mermaids.”

“But they do both exist?” Daisy countered, leaning across the table. 

“Yes, but neither feels it necessary to get a classroom-based education,” Jemma responded. Daisy didn’t understand how someone could sound so bored when talking about this stuff.  

“What about Bigfoot?”

Jemma rolled her eyes and groaned. “Why have humans latched onto the Bigfoot myth? He was just a hungover shifter who got stuck halfway between his forms while inordinately drunk and happened to get caught by a photographer on his way home.”

After Daisy finished cackling, Jemma turned the conversation around on Daisy and asked her all manner of questions about her life. Daisy was surprised that she seemed genuinely interested in her dull tales of foster families and video games. The way she asked many of her questions made Daisy think that Jemma probably hadn’t had a lot of humans to interact with in this century. 

A few hours later, they both realized they had to other places to be and parted ways, but agreed to do lunch again sometime next week after class. 

Daisy walked away with a fresh skip in her step. Not only had she not been told off (again) by Jemma, but she managed to have a fascinating conversation with her and found that she was actually a really pleasant person to spend time with. Maybe if she spent more time with Jemma, she would be able to ask all the questions she had bubbling in her head.


	3. Bad Moon on the Rise

No one was more surprised than Daisy when she and Jemma started becoming friends. They met for lunch nearly every day after their class and spent hours just talking. Daisy would sneak in as many questions as she could about other students and Jemma’s abilities (“No, I can’t turn into a bat and, frankly, I’m offended you would even suggest that!”) and Jemma would probe Daisy about every aspect of pop culture in this decade that Jemma didn’t keep up with. 

Daisy wanted to spend every hour of the day that she was able with Jemma. She would be a fascinating person to talk to even if she didn’t have four centuries of stories to share. She had two PhD’s and was going for more degrees after taking a gap century to allow science to catch up with her. 

Despite Jemma’s best intentions, Daisy frequently felt small and weak around Jemma. She was barely scraping through a cyber security degree and Jemma was just taking a break from saving lives in a World War and waiting for calculus to be invented. That didn’t mean she was going to let that stop her from devouring every bit of information Jemma gave her. 

Sadly, Daisy did have other classes to attend and do assignments for, so not all her time could be spent interrogating Jemma. One of those classes required constant coding and recoding on their project security programs, as well as attempts to hack in to other students’ programs. They got bonus points for every program they managed to hack and points off if their own was hacked, and since her other classes weren’t doing much for her GPA, Daisy needed to constantly supervise and update her code. 

Daisy spent yet another night in the computer lab, beating her classmate Fitz’s program into the dirt, mostly in spite. She had noticed earlier that someone had tried to hack her program and traced the IP to Fitz’s login. He hadn’t managed to get into hers, but his program wasn’t so lucky. Only when the custodian threatened to lock her in the lab did she finally leave the poor jumble of code that remained and head home for the night. 

It had to be near midnight by the time she stepped outside. The moon was shining overhead, full and bright enough that the burnt out sidewalk lights on the ignored side of campus weren’t as much of an issue. Other than the occasional gust of wind howling through the trees, campus was silent. 

Despite the warm, summery air that had been breezing through the campus when Daisy had gone into the building, a chill was now creeping into the air. Daisy pulled her sleeves down over her hands and cursed herself for not bringing a jacket. 

The rhythmic thud of Daisy’s shoes on the pavement seemed amplified by the total silence surrounding her. She had never really felt unsafe on her campus (especially once Jemma explained all the precautions the administration made to keep _all_ students safe and in line), but something about tonight set Daisy on edge. The trees suddenly felt like they had eyes and they were all boring into Daisy. She quickened her pace. 

Daisy could see the literal light at the end of the tunnel three blocks up, where the school decided appearance was important and actually installed street lights. Given the time of day, no one was around, but the brightly lit region seemed more welcoming than the shaded, desolate part of campus right now. 

Then, Daisy heard a rustle behind her and froze. She hurriedly dug out her room key, held it like a sword, and whirled around. 

No one was there. 

Another rustling came from the direction she had just been going and she whirled back to face it, her heart pounding in her throat. This time there was something there, standing on the sidewalk 30 feet away. 

It was a dog. 

“Jesus christ,” Daisy breathed in relief. She bent over and propped her hands on her knees to catch her breath like she had just run a mile. The dog was too far away to see features, but it was definitely the shape of a dog. A big dog, but still a dog.

“Stupid dog,” Daisy grumbled, “You scared the crap out of me.”

The dog’s ears pricked up at her voice and it slunk towards her with its head lowered. All those times the nuns had told her to stop petting stray dogs went out the window. 

“Hi, puppy. Who do you belong to?”

She held out a hand as the dog crept closer and crouched to be less intimidating. As it got close enough to determine features, Daisy’s stomach dropped. 

It was even larger than it had a appeared from a distance. Its legs were gangly and appeared slightly disproportionate to its body. Its brownish fur was thicker than any dog Daisy had ever seen and its golden eyes that were fixed firmly on Daisy’s seemed somehow more intelligent. Even though it looked mostly like a normal animal, something about it seemed…off.

This wasn’t a dog. It was a wolf. 

Daisy slowly straightened up doing her best to not move too suddenly. She took a step back as the wolf continued to advance on her. Daisy had never been a 'camping and wildlife' person, but she wracked her brain for a way to escape from a wolf nonetheless. 

Then, she looked up and saw the shining full moon above. Shit. Jemma had never explicitly said there were werewolves on campus, but given the other crazy things here, Daisy wouldn’t doubt it. 

She took a deep breath and opted for a different approach. 

“Hey, buddy,” she started, shakily, “I’m pretty sure you can understand me, so let’s just relax for a second.”

To Daisy’s immense surprised, the wolf stopped walking and straightened its neck to cock its head at her. _Great,_ Daisy thought, _now what?_

While Daisy tried to think of a way to talk herself out of a werewolf attack, the wolf seemed to appraise her. Its eyes narrowed (which was disconcerting enough) and its nose twitched in the air, picking up her scent. 

Daisy gulped. “So, I’m running late for…a thing. So I’m just gonna…go.”

She tried to sidle by the wolf in the grass. As soon as she moved, the wolf lowered its head again. Its lips curled back over its teeth in, what would normally be a snarl, but on this animal, seemed more like a wicked grin. 

Before Daisy had a chance to run, the wolf launched itself at her. She only had time to throw her arm in front of her so the wolf’s jaws wouldn’t snap around her throat when the full weight of it hit her in the chest and knocked her to the ground. 

The air was forced out of her lungs as her back hit the pavement.  Daisy briefly felt shooting pain in the back of her head as it smacked into the concrete, but that pain was quickly overshadowed by the wolf’s teeth locking around her arm. 

Daisy struggled as much as she could to get free, but the mass of the animal on top of her kept her firmly pinned. It shook its head, further tearing the skin on Daisy’s arms as its claws raked into her sides. 

As suddenly as it had attacked, the wolf was gone. Or maybe Daisy had just blacked out for a moment. She couldn’t be sure. With the weight of the werewolf gone from her chest she could finally suck in a breath, but the instant she did, she wheezed it back out. 

Every inch of her body that the wolf had touch ached. She could smell her blood mixing with the cool night air and it made her stomach roll and her vision swim. The surface of her skin felt like it was burning, which nearly overshadowed the pressure in her chest that Daisy was fairly certain was broken ribs. 

She gasped in as much air as she could, but she couldn’t manage enough breath to scream for help. Given the amount of people who actually went to this part of campus, it would probably be a long time before anyone found her. 

Daisy’s mind felt fuzzy as darkness started to creep in around the edges of her vision. Distantly, she thought she heard someone calling her name, but she must be hallucinating. 

Except the sound got closer. Was this what dying was like? Was this the ghosts of her family calling to her from the other side or something?

Then icy hands cupped the sides of her face, soothing some of the burning. Jemma’s face appeared above her, brows creased with worry, and she as speaking, but Daisy couldn’t make out what she was saying.It sounded like Jemma was speaking through a broken walkie-talkie underwater. 

She wasn’t even sure Jemma was actually there or if she was just hallucinating in her last moments. Daisy tried to focus on what she was saying, but exhaustion made everything feel heavy, even thinking. Jemma’s red-brown eyes were still hovering over Daisy as her eyes slid closed.


	4. Moving Out

Death wasn’t as permanent—or as painless—as Daisy had been led to believe. She drifted back into consciousness, long enough to figure out that she was in a foreign room, before the heavy lure of unconsciousness pulled her back. 

Several times, she drifted awake, but never managed to keep her eyes open for long. The first time, she picked up more details of the room. It was dimly lit and homey, but nowhere she had ever seen before.

The second time she picked up the hazy sound of voices talking nearby. One sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t make out words. Just mutterings. 

The next time there was someone standing by her bed, fiddling with things. The world seemed clearer, but she must still be groggy, because the woman by her appeared to have two small horns curling out of her head. The woman saw her and smiled. 

“Glad to see you’re finally awake. I’ll let your friends know,” she said. 

Daisy tried to ask, ' _What the actual hell?'_ but her eyes slid closed involuntarily and she fell back asleep.

Finally, she woke up fully, though she wasn’t sure that was actually an improvement on unconsciousness. Her arms still burned like they were hovering over a fire and every breath sent a dull ache through her chest. 

Daisy also realized she wasn’t alone. Two people were in her room talking in hushed tones. One of the voices was very familiar by this point.

Jemma. 

Daisy forced her eyes open and was again greeted by the unfamiliar, but cozy room. The two voices immediately hushed once they noticed her. 

“Daisy? Oh, thank god you’re finally awake,” Jemma said. 

Daisy had a thousand questions running through her head. _What happened? How did you find me? Where am I? Wait,_ finally _?!_

“How long have I been out?” Daisy asked.

Jemma frowned. “About three and a half days. We were starting to get concerned.”

_We?_

Daisy finally noticed the source of the other voice: it was Professor Coulson. 

“How are you feeling today, Daisy?” he asked.

Daisy cocked an eyebrow. “Like I got hit by a bus. No offense, Coulson, but why—”

“In addition to teaching in the history department, I’m one of the guidance counselors for students in the Erebus school. Given your unique situation, I felt it would be a good idea to be here to give you some information,” Coulson replied smoothly. “It doesn’t have to be immediately, though. You are still recovering.”

“Trust me, I’m more than ready for information,” Daisy replied. 

She tried to push herself up into a sitting position, but winced at the stabbing pain in her chest. 

Jemma darted to her side. “Careful! You have two fractured ribs.”

Jemma helped carefully slide Daisy into a more dignified position (as dignified as she could be in her loose hospital gown and bulkily bandaged arms) and she waited for Coulson to begin. 

“Jemma informed me that you’re already somewhat aware of our school’s…situation when it comes to our student body,” he stated. Jemma fidgeted with her hands and looked at the floor. “That’s unusual in its own right, but given your recent incident, we need to have a bit of a different conversation.”

Daisy didn’t like the sound of that. 

Coulson continued anyway. “I’m sure you can piece together that it was not a normal animal that attacked you. It was one of the students in our werewolf pack. We know of all the werewolves that attend this school and, rest assured, the perpetrator who attacked you will be discovered and properly disciplined. However—”

Of course, he couldn’t have left it at that.

“I’m sure you know that werewolf bites tend to carry certain…side effects. Unlike most interpretations in popular culture, it’s not a sure thing, though. There hasn’t been a lot of research on what causes the change, but there seems to be some genetic component.”

“So, that means…what exactly?” Daisy asked. 

Jemma cut in. “Essentially, if the specific genetic markers that enable the wolf transformation aren’t present in a person, the bite of a werewolf will have no effect on an individual. Other than some minor scarring of course,” she finished, hopefully. 

Daisy blinked a few times to process. “So what your saying is…I won’t turn into a werwolf unless I’m already a werewolf?”

Coulson and Jemma glanced at each other. “That’s one way of putting it.” Coulson shrugged. 

“How do we know for sure?” Daisy replied. 

Jemma and Coulson shared another glance. They really needed to stop doing that or Daisy was going to scream. 

“Unfortunately, we won’t know until the next full moon. If you don’t transform, then you’re in the clear. If you do—” Coulson trailed off.

“I get to have another monthly curse to worry about forever. Got it,” Daisy finished. She was trying to keep herself from freaking out, but this was a lot to take in for only being awake for about ten minutes. 

“We still have a few weeks before we have to think about that. When it gets closer to the full moon, we’ll have to discuss some things in greater detail. For now we have another issue to discuss.

“Normally, all of our non-human students live in Knight Hall at the edge of campus on a floor with members of similar species. Given your in-between status currently, we’re not quite sure where to put you. Your normal dorm won’t work in case of an incident, but we don’t want to prematurely move you in with the pack—” Coulson said. 

“She can stay with me,” Jemma blurted. “I have plenty of space in my apartment. I can keep an eye on her while she heals and gradually introduce her to the other half of the student population. If she does end up unchanged, she can be just like our other human confidants, and if not she’ll already be familiar with the department.”

Coulson nodded as he considered this. “Daisy, do you have any issue with that arrangement?”

Daisy shook her head. “Um…I’ll need to tell my roommate I’m moving out.”

“We’ll make sure she knows.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy was forced to stay in the clinic a few days more to make sure her bite marks were healing. She quickly learned that, since this was a private clinic for the non-human students at the university, it was considerably nicer than an average hospital. Also, her nurse was a satyr, so that was fun. Jemma outright laughed at the face Daisy made when she realized she hadn’t been hallucinating the horns. 

When she was finally allowed to check out of the clinic, Jemma came to walk her to her apartment that Daisy would be staying in for the next month. Whatever reservations Daisy might have about bunking with a vampire were quickly forgotten when Daisy remembered that she might be a werewolf in a month. She was still unsure why Jemma was being so hospitable towards her when they barely knew each other (though, when she thought about it, she didn’t know much about her previous roommate, Bobbi, other than that she was a biology student and had a sizable sword collection that Daisy stumbled upon when looking for her liquor stash). 

Still, Daisy didn’t seem to have many options at this point and she wasn't going to turn down Jemma. She was starting to really like her. 

Daisy followed Jemma to the far side of campus towards a set of historic buildings. They walked beyond the buildings along a wrought-iron fence that seemed to enclose the whole campus until they came to a massive brick building with stone gargoyles on each corner. Out of the corner of Daisy’s eye, she swore she saw one of the gargoyles move. 

Jemma tapped an ID card on a panel near the door, which beeped and then slid open. The inside of the apartment building was nicer than any dorm Daisy had ever seen. Marble lined the walls up to the arched ceiling that seemed to extend continuously in all directions. Plush armchairs and couches formed a spacious common area, which was currently empty. 

A man sat at an ornate desk near the door and watched them with hawk-like eyes as they strolled towards the elevator. 

Jemma lived on the top floor. Daisy prayed that the elevator wouldn’t stop on any other floor on the way up. She really wasn’t prepared to deal with more supernatural nonsense today, especially when her legs were still shaking from having not supported her weight in nearly a week.

Luckily, they arrived on Jemma’s floor without incident. It was eerily quiet for a dorm. Normally, in Daisy’s building, there were students out at all hours, inventing new ways to surf down the halls or ding-dong-ditching their friends. Though, Daisy kept forgetting this wasn’t a normal dorm. 

Jemma noticed Daisy’s confusion. “I’m the only vampire who currently goes here. Since it’s separated by floor, I get this whole wing to myself.”

“Huh. Must be nice,” Daisy replied. She thought about how nice it might be to not have anyone making noise while she was trying to study for her history test. 

“It can be. It gets a bit lonely, though.”

Jemma swung the door open into her room. It was much larger than the average dorm and had a small sectioned off kitchen and living room area. The furniture looked like a mismatched set of items that were found at various garage sales, like an average college student’s living space. The only thing that immediately made the room look strange were the heavy blackout curtains draped over every window. 

“Bedroom’s this way,” Jemma announced, “I put your things in there already and the bottom set of drawers in the dresser is open for you.”

“What? I’m not going to kick you out of your room. I can sleep on the couch,” Daisy protested. 

“Nonsense, you’re my guest for the next month. Besides, I don’t sleep that much anyway,” Jemma replied, waving Daisy off. 

Daisy wanted to protest further, but another part of Jemma’s statement caught her attention. “Wait, my things?”

Jemma pushed open the bedroom door and Daisy saw a small stack of boxes with most of the things from her dorm room. Stuck to one of them was a small post-it note with a note that said, 'Get well soon -Bobbi.'

“Bobbi helped pack up most of your things when we told her about your situation,” Jemma said, “She was sad to hear you were moving out, but she understood it was for the best.”

Daisy smiled. Maybe once all this werewolf business cleared up, she could move back into the dorm. For now, though, she was eyeing the giant, plush-looking bed that took up the majority of Jemma’s room. _So this building is where all that tuition money is going,_ she thought.

“I’ll let you get settled in. We could go get some dinner in a few hours if you’d like,” Jemma said. 

“Yeah, sounds good,” Daisy replied. 

Daisy waited until Jemma slipped out of the room and then flopped on the cushy bed and nestled in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter for you guys! Unfortunately, now I'm caught up to myself, so the next few chapters may take awhile, but I'm doing my best! We'll be getting into the fun stuff shortly!


	5. Cool Kids

Living with a vampire was a lot less eventful than Daisy expected. 

Jemma was the perfect roommate. Despite the fact that Jemma took mostly night classes (which Daisy didn’t even know the school had) and was awake all night, Daisy was never bothered by Jemma making noise around the apartment.

Daisy did her best to be a considerate guest as well. She was careful not to snoop through Jemma’s stuff (even though some of it looked really old and Daisy was _dying_ to check it out. She did keep her eyes peeled for anything obvious that might give her further clues about the Real Jemma Simmons. The first time she peered into the fridge and found a shelf full of little glass vials of some shimmery purple and orange liquid was one of those moments. Jemma casually explained that those were the potions her witch friend made so she could go out in the sun. Daisy just nodded and decided not to pry (and also decided that she probably didn’t want to know what was in the silver packets stacked next to them).

Jemma was also very tidy, which could not be said for a lot of college students. The clutter of papers and textbooks around the apartment even seemed to be arranged in some kind of system that Daisy could never hope to understand. 

The TV in the living room was entire up to Daisy’s control, as Jemma claimed she could study with any number of distractions. The Netflix was paid for, take out was available from any variety of restaurant a person could want. Jemma was perfectly agreeable on pretty much anything.

The only thing they couldn’t agree on was whether or not Daisy should go to class.  

“I can’t just _not_ go to classes for a month.”

“You’re still healing from a rather traumatic experience. You need rest. At least take another week off.”

“A week is like a month in college years.”

“I promise that your professors will understand that you need some time off for your health,” Jemma insisted. 

“Not if I’m already barely scraping by in their class,” Daisy countered.

“Daisy, for god’s sake, just lay down and take care of yourself for awhile!”

The now-familiar black edges started creeping into Daisy vision again as Jemma stared her down and her knees started to shake like they wanted to bend. Daisy squeezed her eyes shut and tried to shake the feeling off. 

“Okay, seriously, what is that you’re doing? That thing where everything gets all fuzzy while you’re talking? This is like the fifth time that’s happened,” Daisy grumbled. 

She wasn’t expecting Jemma to look so abashed. 

“Sorry, I didn’t realize I was doing it,” Jemma muttered. “It’s a sort of mind control thing vampires can do. It’s a way to 'subdue our prey.'“ Jemma wrinkled her nose in disgust. “I try to never use it, but sometimes it just happens. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s just…weird. Glad I know I’m not crazy though.” Daisy sighed. “Does that count as a personal question?”

Jemma smirked. “I’ll let you have that one.”

Jemma must have felt really guilty about the mind control thing, because she let the matter of Daisy going to class drop. The more Daisy looked over the angry scars on her arms, she suspected that Jemma might have been onto something. 

Jemma ordered them pizza from a place down the street for dinner. While they ate, they chatted about Jemma’s research and Daisy’s programming and discreetly avoided anything to do with werewolves. 

“I was thinking,” Jemma said abruptly, “I have some work to do for a class project in the lab tomorrow and, I was wondering— don’t feel obligated to agree if you don’t want to yet…”

“Yes?” Daisy prodded. 

“Would you want to see some of the school?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy spent more time nervously tapping her pencil than she did writing out the formulas to her math problems. Technically, Jemma just invited her down to the lab so she could get out of the apartment, but she did warn Daisy that there might be other 'non-human' students there. She didn't want to back out just because she was nervous about the kind of students she would meet (she really needed to get out of this apartment after two weeks straight of bedrest. 

Daisy's eyes kept flicking to the clock on the stove, waiting until the time Jemma said she would be done with her day class. She only had a few more minutes, so her math homework had very little chance of getting done. 

Jemma unfortunately didn't tell Daisy exactly what to expect from all the students at the school, just giving her vague descriptions of some of the species and abilities, so Daisy was going into this blind. 

At 2:05 on the dot, Daisy heard Jemma's keys jingle in the door and her heart lurched in her chest. 

"Afternoon, Daisy. I just need to grab my lab notes. Are you ready?" Jemma called. 

Daisy took a deep breath. "Yep, never been readier."

Jemma dug through the bookshelf for the correct folder of lab notes, which wasn't hard to find since the whole shelf was color coded. Daisy normally thought that Jemma's obsessive organization was adorable, but in this case she wished that Jemma would take more time finding her things. 

It only took a minute longer for Daisy to close up her notebook and follow Jemma to the door. She followed Jemma out the door and down the hall to the elevator. Jemma tried to chat about her work while they descended and Daisy welcomed the distraction. 

It took Daisy a few minutes to realize that they had been in the elevator much longer than it normally took to get to the lobby. The screen that showed the floor number ticked past the lobby and the maintenance level and showed series of X's instead of numbers. 

Before Daisy could ask, the elevator dinged and the doors slid open, revealing a long hallway lit uniformly with wall-mounted lamps. The digital screen on the elevator read -3. 

"What the..." 

"When the university started accepting supernatural students, they built a series of tunnels between the dorms and the designated buildings for us, so we could move around more comfortably and discreetly," Jemma replied, "They're quite useful in my case."

"Whoa."

Jemma led the way down the hallway, which, as they walked down, Daisy realized was more of a maze. The hall branched off and down each new hallway, there seemed to be another three halls. Jemma strode down them without hesitation, turning down each new fork despite there being no signage anywhere. 

They finally reached a hallway that ended in a single door. Through the door was a staircase that Jemma led the way up and through another door. 

On the other side of the final door was a sterile white laboratory. Daisy had tried to avoid most labs since high school when she almost burned down the school during chemistry, but this one looked spacious enough that she could sit out of the way while Jemma worked. There were a few other students milling around, but everything looked pretty normal for the supernatural side of campus. 

Until Daisy’s eyes landed on the collection of wires, circuitboards, and screens floating a foot above the table. Some cables twisted through the air like snakes and connected at different points, changing what appeared on the largest screen.

“Whoa,” she whispered. 

The man controlling the electronics waved off hand and Daisy suddenly recognized the back of his head that she enjoyed flicking stuff at in her programming class.

“Fitz?” Daisy exclaimed. “What are you doing in the cool kids’ lab?”

“Daisy!” All the electronics floating above him suddenly crashed to the floor and he leaned against the table in an awkward-looking attempt at casualness. “I-I didn't know you were bringing a-a guest, Jemma. What a surprise. What you just saw was just a— uh, a test if some new anti-gravity stuff I’m— it’s really just an electromagnet, nothing weird or—”

“Fitz is a technopath,” Jemma explained, ignoring his ramblings. 

Daisy quirked an eyebrow and looked between Fitz’s gawking face and Jemma’s amused one. “A what now?”

“He controls electronics with his mind.”

“Well, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, don’t you thi— Hang on,” Fitz interjected, “Why are we talking about this like it’s no big deal? Do you know what the Dean would do to us if she found out if we told a…” He gestured vaguely to Daisy. 

“If you talked about your superpowers with a possible future werewolf and her vampire roommate?” Daisy replied. 

Fitz’s eyes flicked between Jemma and Daisy and to the still-healing scratches up Daisy’s arms. “Ah.”

“The Dean is well aware of our situation. I doubt it would alarm her.” Jemma said. She snapped on some protective goggles and started pulling chemicals and pipettes out of cabinets.

As Jemma got to work, Daisy wandered over to where Fitz was repairing his tech. “So, not to be snarky, but you can control computers with your mind and I’m _still_ beating your security program into dust?”

“Oh don’t get all high-and-mighty. I’ve just been lulling you into a false sense of security while I slowly pick yours apart,” Fitz scoffed. 

Daisy chuckled. “You haven’t gotten past the first firewall.”

Fitz only sputtered defensively. Daisy would have loved to tease him more, but the door on the other side of the lab slid open another familiar face stepped in.

“Daisy!”

Moments later, Daisy was pulled into a tight hug by her ex-roommate.

“Um, Bobbi?” Daisy wheezed, “What are _you_ doing here?”

“Oh, right,” Jemma interjected, “Remember when I said I had an agreement with a witch? Bobbi’s the witch.”

Bobbi preened a little. “Yep. Just human enough to live in the boring dorm, but magical enough to double major in Potions and Curses.”

“They’re really going to put that on your diploma?” Daisy joked.

“Officially, I’m a Biology/Psychology double major.” Bobbi winked. “By the way, Simmons, ration your potions for awhile. I’ve been having a tough time coming by some of the ingredients, so it may be awhile before I can make you another batch.”

Jemma shrugged and went back to work. 

“So, is everybody I know part of this secret school?” Daisy wondered aloud. 

“Statistically, about 43% of your classmates,” Fitz called back. 

Daisy just rolled her eyes and plopped in a chair near Fitz to watch him work (she figured his work was the least hazardous to her health). 

Some time passed and the three continued their projects while Daisy bounced between them and asked questions. Occasionally, another student would drift in or out of the lab and Daisy would ask what their 'thing' was. The answer was always different (shapeshifter, fairy, kappa) which kept Daisy busy on Google for awhile. 

The next time the door slid open, Jemma tensed. Daisy froze; if Jemma was nervous, it had to be bad, right?

Bobbi and Fitz continued to work, but both apprehensively glanced over to the newcomer. Daisy slowly peered over her shoulder at the new addition to the room. 

He looked perfectly unassuming. Tall, blond hair, blue eyes, a smile that reminded Daisy of a puppy dog that just wanted a pat on the head. She couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. 

Jemma tossed her goggles on the table and strode over to him as he walked towards where everyone was clustered. “Lincoln, what are you doing here?” she asked sweetly. 

“Nice to see you too, Simmons. I just had a few forms I needed to grab,” Lincoln responded. “I didn’t realize you were having a party down here or I would have brought some beer.”

Lincoln’s eyes flicked to Daisy and she fidgeted under his gaze. 

Jemma paused a few moments and sighed. “Daisy, this is Lincoln Campbell. He’s part of the school’s werewolf pack.”

The last part she mumbled out, as if hoping Daisy wouldn’t hear it, but there was no way she could miss it. Lincoln marched over to Daisy and stuck a hand out. Behind him, Daisy saw Jemma take a step towards him, but then pull back, like she was fighting the urge to yank him back. 

“Nice to meet you. You’ve been all the talk on the fifth floor for awhile. It’s been a really long time since we’ve had a new member in the pack,” Lincoln said, excitedly shaking Daisy’s hand. 

“We don’t even know whether she will be in your pack or not, so don’t get too excited,” Jemma deadpanned.

Lincoln deflated slightly, but the nervous smile came back in an instant. “Well, either way, I hope I’ll see you around campus.” 

“You too,” Daisy responded weakly. Lincoln retreated out the way he’d come, grabbing his papers as he went. 

He wasn’t at all what Daisy had been expecting from a werewolf. He wasn’t hairy or sullen or some pompous alpha male. In fact he was just the opposite of all of her expectations. 

Jemma didn’t say anything further about Lincoln after he left, but her permanent frown as she jammed her pipette tips on with excessive force made Daisy wonder what was Jemma’s issue with him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next weeks passed way too quickly for Daisy, each day creeping closer to the date on the calendar with the red circle around it indicating the full moon. She fidgeted with her notes in class and tried constantly to get herself to focus, but her mind kept drifting to what could happen in a few days’ time. She was pretty sure Coulson even noticed her increased restlessness, but, thankfully, he didn’t mention it. 

Finally, the day came. Daisy got back from class and just paced around Jemma’s apartment, unable to sit still for more than a few moments. Jemma drifted in a offered her snacks or tea or anything to help distract her, but eventually left Daisy to her thoughts. 

Daisy pulled back the blackout curtains and watched the sun slowly sink into the horizon. Each second it moved filled Daisy with more and more anxiety. 

A gentle knock on the wall jarred Daisy out of her thoughts. Jemma stood there nervously with a stuffed bag slung over her shoulder. 

“It’s time, Daisy.”


	6. Growing Pains

Daisy followed Jemma down the elevator, to the tunnels, and down the maze of hallways, not even attempting to discern where they were going. Jemma tried to make idle conversation, but it came across as nervous babble that Daisy mostly didn't hear. 

They eventually came up into a small, square building that had large windows making up the wall opposite the door they emerged from and one other door. Waiting in the building were Coulson and an Asian woman Daisy didn’t recognize. Daisy was too stressed to ask what her 'thing' was, but from the intense look on her face, Daisy guessed dragon shifter.

“Daisy, Jemma. This is May, the Dean of the Erebus School,” Coulson introduced. “She’s here to help supervise and advise on…whatever the situation may be tonight.”

May just nodded in their direction. Daisy got the feeling there wouldn’t be a lot of words in May’s form of 'advising.’

Jemma held up the bag she had carried in. “I brought the things you told me to, Coulson.”

“Perfect. Daisy, go ahead and change and then meet us outside when you’re ready. We still have some things to go over.”

Change? Daisy cocked an eyebrow at Jemma. 

“Trust me, you’ll want to. Just in case,” Jemma replied hopefully. 

May, Coulson, and Jemma slipped out the door opposite the one Daisy and Jemma had entered from and left Daisy alone. 

She pulled a baggy gray sweater and sweatpants out of the bag and changed into them. Just in case? Oh, obviously her clothes wouldn’t change with her if she did turn into a wolf tonight. Maybe she shouldn’t have worn shoes that she liked.

She kicked off her shoes and socks and set them next to the bag. Out of curiosity, she poked through the contents of it, before folding her clothes up on top. There was a collection of healthy snacks, vitamins, and a few bottles of water and sports drinks, along with a damp washrag in a plastic bag and a hairbrush. Jemma really did prepare for this. 

After psyching herself up for a few minutes (and trying to get over feeling self-conscious in nothing but sweatpants and a very loose sweater), she pushed through the door. She tried not to think about why there were so many heavy locks on the inside of the door. 

The door opened up to a wide grassy field with a massive wooden fence encircling it. The fence was twice as high as any Daisy had seen and had no space between the thick wooden slats. Though she tried not to, Daisy couldn’t help noticing the various stains and gouges in the wood. 

May, Coulson, and Jemma stood right in the middle of the field, watching Daisy carefully. 

“So,” Daisy started, trying to break some of the tension, “What next?”

“Now,” May said, “We wait.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

May and Coulson retreated to the building, dragging Jemma along despite her insisting that she could stay for a few more minutes. Daisy was sad to see her go, but it was for the best considering May’s unceremonious run-down of what could happen when she changed (May wasn’t interested in coddling Daisy with 'what-if’s, which she could appreciate to an extent).

'Total loss of control'and 'aggressive tendencies' echoed in Daisy’s mind as she picked at the grass. The little ball of anxiety and restless energy in her stomach writhed as the sun sank further into the ground, painting the sky with all shades of oranges and purples. 

She couldn’t take sitting anymore, so she started to pace. She walked from end to end of the large field (well, really a cage), but she couldn’t seem to relax. 

Occasionally, she glanced over to the building where she could somewhat see in the windows. Each time, Coulson and May were conversing, paying no attention to Daisy, and each time Jemma was looking in her direction. Jemma was fidgeting almost as much as Daisy was. A few times, it looked like Coulson tried to pull her into their conversation. Jemma politely joined in, but her eyes kept drifting back to Daisy. 

Finally, it was fully dark. Pacing wasn’t helping, so Daisy flopped on the ground. She wriggled her fingers and toes against the ground to feel the cool grass between them. She could see the very tops of some tall trees over the fence and the bright full moon was barely peeking over the canopy. Apparently, she had to stay in the field until morning, just in case, but if nothing had happened by now, surely she was in the clear.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, than the muscles in her abdomen violently clenched, knocking the wind out of her. She froze for a moment, clutching her stomach and trying to catch her breath. She glanced over at the building, but no one inside seemed to notice. May was leaning against the wall with her eyes closed and Jemma was faking interest in whatever Coulson was saying as he appeared to be showing her trading cards. 

Maybe it was just a weird cramp. 

Nope.

Moments later, a second spasm shot through her body and caused all her muscles to seize up. 

No no no no no. This couldn’t be happening. Daisy had been able to prepare herself mentally for a month, but she still wasn’t ready for this to actually be a possibility. 

It felt like all of Daisy’s muscles were twisting and stretching under her skin. The pain quickly jumped from 'ow' to 'probably more painful than giving birth because it’s EVERYWHERE.' 

Daisy writhed on the ground desperately trying to relieve the pain. Her skin felt like it was about to tear off; she could feel her bones bending. She cried out, unable to keep herself quiet anymore, and was surprised at how animalistic the sound was. It was hard for Daisy to form full thoughts through the agony and they just came in single words. 

Pain. _Pain._

Stopped. Tired. Freedom. 

The loose sweatshirt suddenly felt constricting and Daisy clawed it off and threw it aside. 

Suddenly, every muscle in Daisy’s body relaxed and she collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily. It seemed like ages, but the moon hadn’t moved at all during her ordeal. 

Daisy laid still and tried to gather her thoughts. Her mind was still a jumble of feelings and words that didn’t seem to line up. The one that did was _relief_. 

She pushed herself upright and steadied herself on the grass as the world spun around her. She didn’t quite know where she was anymore. But she was outdoors, with the moon overhead, the breeze in her hair, and grass under her feet, which was the most important. 

And she was finally free. 

The only thing in her way was this big stupid wall. 

She stood up to try to find a way out of the fence and promptly fell on her face. 

She glanced down. Huh, paws. That was new. 

Duh, she had paws. Four of them to be exact, and a tail. 

Daisy shook her head. Her brain still felt jumbled, like there was suddenly someone new in there that didn’t quite know how to work the controls. 

Unfortunately, Daisy didn’t really either. 

That was a 'later' problem, though. First, she had to get out of this wall. The second voice that just came in individual words was insistent: run, jump, play, _free!_

She managed to get to her feet and trot over to the wall. Was nighttime always so bright? And so smelly? There was so many things to smell here! She put her nose to the ground and tried to identify all the new things. Some seemed familiar while others were definitely foreign and felt sharp. She huffed at those smells and went back to her original task. 

The wall seemed completely solid. She trotted around the circumference of the fence, looking for any weak points and found none, so she circled again. She pawed at the ground to see if there was any weak spots. Nothing here. She paced and pawed at another spot. Still nothing. 

Now, she was starting to get annoyed. She just wanted _out._ Needed out. 

She jumped up and pressed her front feet to the fence and pushed. Nothing. She tried bouncing her weight into it, but it barely flexed. 

She growled at the offensive object. Her legs felt like they were going to run out from under her if she didn’t get outside of this dumb thing _immediately._

She slammed her shoulder into it. 

_Ow._

It did nothing but leave a slight dent in the wood. 

She tried again. And again. And again. 

_The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results._

_Oh, shut up._

Was she arguing with herself? Great.

“Daisy!”

A voice called a name (her name?) behind her and her ears flicked towards them. 

A man was striding towards her. Something about him seemed familiar, but mostly, she was just annoyed that he was in her space. 

She sniffed the air as he approached. Nothing about his scent felt threatening. The stern woman who walked behind him was another story. As soon as her scent hit Daisy’s nose, her hackles stood on end. The woman’s posture didn’t feel like she was going to attack, but Daisy could smell her power. She was going to have to keep an eye on this woman. 

The man stopped a distance away. He was speaking softly with his hand held out. Daisy’s brain was too jumbled to catch everything he said, but she caught keywords. 

Going to hurt yourself. Need to stop. Not getting out. Just relax. 

Sit. Stay. Be quiet. 

It sounded like the things Daisy had been told _all her life._ Women in black capes flashed through her memories (the word 'nuns' drifted along the images). They told her the same things when she was small. Sit still. Don’t do that. Behave. 

Daisy snarled. She didn’t want to sit still. She wanted to run. 

And this man was going to get in the way of that. She suddenly found an outlet for all her pent up energy. 

She lunged at him. 

Midair, something clamped around her throat cutting off her breath. She yelped and squirmed to free herself. 

In a split second, she was free, but was flat on her back with the stern woman glowering down at her. She could tell she had been beaten and didn’t move. 

The woman spoke to her in shorter, easier to comprehend sentences. 

“You’re here until morning. Run around if you have to. You’re not leaving this fence.”

The woman strode away, guiding the man back towards a building at the end of the field. 

Daisy huffed in irritation as they left. She was still antsy, but obviously wasn’t going to be allowed to leave anytime soon.

As they reached the building, Daisy noticed another woman in it, peering through the window. For some reason, she wanted that woman to come outside. She wasn’t consciously sure why, though. 

Still annoyed, she decided to pace the whole yard. She loped through the grass, skirting just within the fence to maximize the amount of space she had. It wasn’t enough. 

Walking didn’t move her fast enough, so she tried running the length of the yard. Just when she felt that rush of freedom that running brought, she had to skid to a stop at the fence. She’d grumble and turn around to run the other direction. 

She pointed her nose to the sky and found the moon directly overhead. She felt like she could do anything under the bright light of the moon. 

Distantly, she heard a howl. She felt like it was saying something, but she couldn’t tell what. It sounded like every time the humans had tried to speak to her; words jumbled, nothing making total sense except the bits she could piece together. The howl, however wasn’t in a language she knew. Or maybe it was and she had just forgotten. 

But, for now all she could do was run in circles. She whined and resumed her circuit of the fence, desperately trying to burn off some energy. 

It was going to be a long night. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What a weird dream. Daisy nestled back down into her pillow, but the morning light was beating at her eyelids. She must have forgotten to pull the blackout curtains back over the window. Oh well, it’s not it would bother Jemma in here. 

It sure was annoying, though. 

She moved to roll away from the window and every muscle and bone in her body screamed in protest. 

Daisy moaned and cursed under her breath. What the hell? 

She felt a hand brush the hair off her forehead and suddenly feeling started to rush back into Daisy’s limbs. 

She could feel grass under her bare feet and poking her through the fabric of her pants. The pillow she felt under her head was a blanket balled up in someone’s lap who was gently combing their fingers through Daisy’s hair. The morning was cool, but the sun beating down on Daisy’s skin was quickly warming her up. 

She cracked an eye open slowly and took extra care not to move any more than she had to to look up. 

The lap she was resting on was Jemma. She was wearing a wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off her, but otherwise seemed quite content to let Daisy sleep. When she caught Daisy’s eyes on her, she gave her a sympathetic smile and reached into a bag she had next to her knee.

“Hungry?” Jemma asked softly. 

Thank god she kept her voice down. Even the gentle question hit Daisy’s ears like a sonic boom and made them ring. She winced, but nodded. She was starving. 

Daisy tried not to whine as Jemma helped her sit up. She felt like she had been run over by a road paver and then it reversed and went over her again. She had never wanted to know what it felt like to have your bones remodeled twice in one night, but now she did. 

Neither of them spoke as Daisy munched on her protein bar and juice. Once she was done, she felt like she should address the elephant (well, wolf) in the room. 

“So,” Daisy started, “What now?”

Jemma tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. “Now, we need find you a transition mentor.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I've been slacking on this fic for awhile, while trying to finish up other fics. I'm back on this one though! And hopefully I can get quite a bit done this month (what better time than Hallo-month to work on a monster AU?)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the chapter though! (Also, sorry to that one person who didn't want Daisy to be a werewolf. It had to happen. It'll be fun though, don't worry).


	7. Orientation

Daisy was still shaky as Jemma guided her home. She was in such a daze that she didn't even realize that they had passed through the maze of tunnels, the dorm lobby, and the elevator to get to Jemma’s front door. 

Jemma kept an arm loosely wrapped around Daisy's waist until they were fully inside the apartment. The blackout curtains were still pulled back from the night before, letting the early morning light stream into the living room, where Daisy stood awkwardly. She had no idea where to go from this point. She was exhausted, physically and mentally and her mind still felt like a jumbled pile of words and feelings.

Jemma’s voice drifted into her consciousness, gently asking if she wanted to take a shower. Daisy nodded slightly, not sure if Jemma was actually asking her or if she was imagining it.

Jemma’s hand gently pressing against her shoulder answered that question. In a matter of moments, Daisy was in the spacious bathroom with a fluffy towel and a change of clothes in her arms. Jemma placed a hand on Daisy's shoulder and gave her a comforting smile, muttered something about breakfast and left Daisy alone in the bathroom.

Daisy cranked the hot water up and stripped off her borrowed, baggy clothes. Her hands were coated in a fine layer of dirt up to her elbows. She had bits of grass and mud still caked under her fingernails and a few flecks of dried grass stuck to her skin. On looking down, she noticed her feet were in a similar state. 

Daisy glared at her reflection in the mirror, staring herself down as if any minute her dark brown eyes would shift to a brilliant gold and she was telling them ‘don't you dare.’ She clenched her hands into fists, half expecting that they would be fur and claws instead of skin. 

Everything felt off. Like she was a stranger in her own skin. Or there was someone else in her head with her.

Daisy nearly didn't recognize herself in her mirror. Sure, she looked exactly the same, but somehow her reflection seemed sharper. She glanced around the bathroom and everything her eyes landed on seemed the same. Tiny, nuanced distinctions in the paint on the walls that Daisy would have never noticed before suddenly stood out loudly. Small print on Jemma’s shampoo bottle across the room was suddenly legible.

Daisy frowned. Her vision had never been bad but the way she was seeing now made her feel like she had been blind all her life. 

She tore her eyes from the reflection and stepped into the scalding shower. She spent way longer than normal scrubbing every inch of her skin, trying to get rid of the memory of wind through fur. She squeezed her eyes shut when the memory of Coulson and May filtered through her mind, but she couldn't push it away. 

She finally turned the water off, wrapped herself up in the towel, and stepped out of the shower. 

Her stomach growled loudly and the smell of bacon drifted into the bathroom through the thick steam from the shower. Everything else could be put on hold. For now she needed food.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I talked to Coulson.”

Jemma’s voice finally broke the awkward silence of breakfast. For most of the meal, neither party had wanted to talk, but Jemma finally spoke up. Daisy just hummed an acknowledgement. 

“He's spoken to the pack and found you a transitioner. And he'd like you to meet them this evening,” Jemma finished.

Daisy's stomach dropped. She was hoping to have at least another month before she had to deal with this...werewolf business again. Or at the very least, one night. Apparently the universe had different plans.

“Oh,” was all Daisy could muster.

“He said it didn't have to be until later, so you could get some rest, but he thinks it's important you start immediately,” Jemma muttered. She could definitely tell Daisy didn't want to talk about this. 

Daisy just nodded in acknowledgment. They finished the rest of their breakfast in silence. Afterward, Daisy offered to help clean up, but Jemma shooed her away to go take a nap. Daisy wasn't going to argue with that too intensely, so she shuffled back to Jemma’s bedroom, collapsed into her plush bed, and slipped into sleep in seconds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, Lincoln? That blonde, guy who wandered into the lab the other day?” Daisy asked.

Jemma nodded tersely. “He's done this before, so Coulson thought he would be he best choice to help you out. And he’s been a werewolf the longest of the group, so he seemed the logical choice.”

Daisy frowned. “Is there something wrong with him?”

“No, why do you ask?”

“Well, you seem to have some issue with him,” Daisy countered. 

Jemma flushed slightly. Daisy chalked it up to Jemma being out in the sun. “No, there’s nothing wrong with him. In fact, he’s brilliant at what he does. He just… I don’t know. He doesn’t like to follow people’s directions very well.”

Daisy quirked an eyebrow. “That’s why you’re annoyed with him? Why are you not constantly annoyed with me, then?”

Jemma rolled her eyes. “Believe me, I frequently am,” she replied, but with a slight smirk. “I was annoyed with him because I advised both Coulson and him that it wouldn’t be a good idea to have you meet the pack when we still weren’t sure of your status. I told him I would be bringing you to the lab and asked him to stay out of it for that afternoon, so we wouldn’t overwhelm you. Apparently, he decided that coming down to meet you anyway was a good idea.”

“Oh.” Daisy muttered. She appreciated Jemma’s concern, but she wasn’t too traumatized by the brief meeting with Lincoln, just a little startled by the suddenness of it. It seemed like there was something else that Jemma wasn’t saying, but at that moment, Daisy saw Lincoln leaning up against a light pole by the coffee shop they were headed towards. 

He perked up when he saw them approaching and strode over to meet them. 

“Hey, Daisy. We’re so excited to have you join the pack,” Lincoln said when he caught up to them. 

Daisy cringed. “Well, sorry. I’m still not in the excited phase of this whole thing.”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Perfectly understandable. There’s so much that you’re dealing with right now. But, that’s why I’m here. To make it a little easier for you,” Lincoln explained.

Jemma had disappeared for a moment, but reappeared by Daisy’s elbow with something crumpled up in her hands. 

“What is that?” Daisy asked. 

Jemma scowled. “Another Watchdogs flyer I saw hanging up.”

Lincoln mirrored her scowl. 

“Um, Watchdogs?” Daisy glanced between the two. 

“They’re a hate group that’s been trying to recruit on campus lately. They’re strictly against any non-humans 'tainting' their cities,” Lincoln explained with disgust. 

“But I thought you guys— _we_ — were a secret.”

Lincoln shrugged. “Sometimes the secret gets out somehow and people don’t react very well. Most people who don’t know about us just think the Watchdogs are delusional. Don’t worry too much about them, though. The campus is safe as houses.”

Lincoln placed a hand on Daisy’s shoulder in a comforting gesture.

“Well, I didn’t take enough of my potion today, so the sun is getting a bit much for me. I’ll leave you two to it,” Jemma blurted. Daisy noticed her eyes dart between herself and Lincoln, before she turned on her heel and marched off. Jemma threw the crumpled flyer at a trash can so hard, Daisy thought she saw a dent poke out the other side. 

“So, shall we get started?” Lincoln asked.

“Sure. Get started with what exactly?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They ended up in the woods surrounding most of the campus. Only the Erebus school students were allowed in the woods (though, apparently, the only regulars were the werewolves on full moons and a few witches), so they knew they were have privacy while they talked. Lincoln led the way, strolling through nearly invisible paths in the foliage. Luckily, Lincoln did most of the talking, so Daisy could just listen and ask questions. 

“No one is really sure where we came from,” Lincoln explained. “The prevailing theory is that thousands of years ago, when humans first moved into cities, they tried to repress and get rid of their more 'wild' urges with magic. Somehow, it went wrong and they ended up splitting themselves into human and wolf.”

“How the heck did they manage that?”

Lincoln shrugged. “We’re not really sure. It might have been around the time  they were domesticating wolves and tried to transfer part of themselves onto the wolves. It might have that the spell turned that part of the person into a wolf and that’s why they changed. No one really knows, because no one wanted to write it down. All we know is that sometime after that point, werewolf images started spreading around all sorts of cultures, so we’re probably all the descendants of those few people.”

“Great,” Daisy muttered sarcastically. “So, we’re genetically cursed because someone turned their bad thoughts into a wolf.”

“Not bad,” Lincoln clarified. “Just wild.”

“Yeah, like the urge to kill things. Which is bad,” Daisy countered. 

“It’s not just to kill things. It’s a hunting instinct for survival. The more violent urges come from pushing all those instincts down and repressing them,” Lincoln said. 

“So, what. Turning into a werewolf is all because we repress our feelings?”

Lincoln cringed. “Yes and no?”

“Very clear.”

Lincoln chuckled. “The wolf part is a manifestation of our natural, basal instincts. The need to run and hunt and just be around nature. The stories of violent werewolves destroying and killing is the result of people being too pent up and enclosed in urban spaces. Also, mostly exaggerated negative propaganda. When we’re given this kind of space to move around—” he gestured to the trees around them— “we’re actually quite tame and in control.”

“If all we need is space, then why did the dean put me in a fence for the first time I turned?” Daisy asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice. 

Lincoln flinched. “Honestly, the way they handled your transition was not great. They haven’t had someone go through the change on their campus before, so they weren’t really sure how to go about it. All they knew is that newly turned werewolves tend to be really confused and unpredictable, so they figured the best way to handle that was to keep you contained.”

“Which actually made it one thousand percent worse,” Daisy finished for him.

“Pretty much.” Lincoln cringed. “I suggested the pack could be on standby to help out, but they were still convinced you weren’t going to change, so they shot me down.”

Daisy’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Did _you_ know I was going to change?”

Lincoln looked abashed. “We can sort of tell who is and isn’t a werewolf. You know that there’s a genetic component to lycanthropy, right?”

“If lycanthropy is 'being a werewolf, then yes.”

Lincoln nodded. “Even before a potential werewolf changes, there’s something that we can sense in each other. It’s not really a scent, just a feeling. Sometimes werewolves will seek out unchanged werewolves and try to change them, because of this.”

“Like whoever bit me,” Daisy said. A shudder ran up her spine from the memory. 

“Exactly.”

“Have you figured out who it was yet? The one who attacked me,” Daisy asked. 

“Unfortunately, not.” Lincoln frowned. “The whole pack was accounted for that night and nowhere near where you were attacked, so we’re trying to figure out how another werewolf got on campus without anyone knowing.”

“Are you sure?” Daisy prodded. 

“Yes. We’re a very small pack and everyone was together that night,” Lincoln defended. “And I know my pack and none of them would change someone without their permission. They know what it’s like to be forced into it.” 

Lincoln suggested they head back towards campus, so Daisy had to file away further questions for another day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day, Lincoln signed himself and Daisy up for a private yoga session. Apparently it was to 'refamiliarize Daisy with her own body and mind' while also giving her a chance to stretch out her abused muscles. 

Thankfully, they didn’t start at the crack of dawn, because Lincoln and the pack shifted and went for another run last night, which Daisy didn’t even realize they could do.

“The whole process of shifting involves energy. It takes a ton of energy to shift form like we do, so we pull it from the full moon. That’s not warrior pose, Daisy.”

Daisy huffed and tried to twist her torso into the position the video instructor was demonstrating. She spun her arms trying to keep her balance while her legs shook trying to support her body weight.

Lincoln continued his teaching, oblivious to Daisy’s struggling. “When the moon is at its peak, that’s when it’s easiest for us to shift and it’s nearly impossible to resist shifting. The days before and after, it’s still possible to shift with practice, but takes a lot more energy. Some months we just like to have the extra days together. I figured you would still be exhausted from your first shift and probably not want to join us this time.” 

He wasn’t wrong. The residual memories of the last time made Daisy want to go as long as possible without shifting again. She couldn’t imagine _wanting_ to do it more than she had to. 

“So, other than running around all day, how do you control the wolf-brain?” Daisy asked. 

“Well, you have to acknowledge that the wolf brain is your brain, first. The only biological difference werewolves have to normal humans is in our brain stem, which controls instinctive action. Actually, my dissertation is on the variation of neurobiology among non-human persons, and I’d like to have another werewolf in the sample if you—” Lincoln cut himself off when he noticed Daisy’s blank stare.

“—Nevermind, not the time. Anyway, the wolf part of your brain is basically the same as your normal brain, but since it’s new, it feels unfamiliar. Once you familiarize yourself with it and everything it wants, you can assimilate it into your normal stream of consciousness and you’ll be more in control. When you try to fight or push away the wolf part of your brain, that’s when you start to lose control of yourself.”

The video instructor twisted herself into some impossible position and Daisy lost her balance and fell on her ass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days later, it was decided that Daisy should move into the werewolves’ floor of the complex, since she officially was one. Jemma spent her weekend helping Daisy pack up her stuff and move it down to the fifth floor. Most of Daisy’s stuff was still in boxes from the last move, so it was just a matter of making multiple trips up and down the elevator and shoving the boxes into her new apartment. 

Daisy was thankful that the rest of the werewolves seemed to be busy, so they weren’t around the floor while Daisy moved. Once all her boxes were situated, Jemma, who had been unusually quiet all day, offered to help her unpack. 

“I think I can manage. I just need to figure out where to put everything. Thanks, though,” Daisy responded. 

Jemma just nodded. “I’ll get out of your way then. If you need me, you know where to find me.” She gestured to the ceiling. 

“Got it,” Daisy said, with a mock salute. “And…thanks. For everything this past month.”

Jemma smiled. “You’re very welcome.”

With that, she left and Daisy was alone in her new place. 

It was set up similarly to Jemma’s apartment, but was significantly more bare. Obviously, Jemma had plenty of time to decorate her place with all her accumulated things from 400 years of life. Daisy had a lot of catching up to do in that department. 

Daisy rolled up her sleeves and dove into the first box she could reach. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, are you like the alpha of the pack or something?” Daisy murmured. 

The coffee shop where Lincoln decided to meet was on the side of campus favored by the Erebus students, but they still had to be cautious. Still, he offered to meet Daisy again to answer some more of her questions and orient her a bit more, since the next full moon was coming up. 

Lincoln wrinkled his nose at the comment. “No, definitely not. I think Elena would kick my ass if I even suggested that.”

“Is Elena the alpha then?”

Lincoln chuckled. “She’d probably like that. The thing is we don’t really have alphas and omegas or whatever humans like to attribute to normal wolves. Even normal wolves don’t really follow that model in most circumstances. The pack is more of a…team, I guess. We keep an eye out for each other, work together, support each other, et cetera. If we had to hunt to survive, we’d do that together, too.”

“Huh.” Daisy took a sip of her coffee. 

“So, don’t worry. There’s really no hard and fast rules with the pack. We usually head out for runs together, but after awhile everyone sort of does their own thing. Honestly, sometimes it’s just really nice to take a nap in the woods,” Lincoln said with a chuckle. 

Daisy had to laugh at that. Part of her brain seemed to relish the idea of curling up under a tree and just relaxing. The other part of her brain thought that was crazy since her new memory foam mattress was so insanely comfortable. 

“Hello, Daisy.” A familiar voice pulled Daisy’s attention from Lincoln. 

Jemma stood beside the table where Daisy and Lincoln were sitting. She had her coffee (or, knowing Jemma, tea) in her hand already and a pair of dark sunglasses perched on her head, despite the overcast sky.

“Jemma! It’s been awhile. Grab a chair,” Daisy greeted, brightly. 

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to interrupt anything,” Jemma replied, her eyes darting between Daisy and Lincoln. 

“You aren’t. We’re just talking about wolf stuff. Right, Lincoln?” Daisy prodded. 

Lincoln nodded in agreement. 

“Really, it’s fine. I—I’m meeting Fitz in the lab in a bit. I just wanted to say hi,” Jemma said.

Before Daisy could say anything else, Jemma had turned and headed for the door, flipping her sunglasses over her eyes as she went. 

Daisy frowned. “That seemed weird,” she muttered.

“I get the feeling that Jemma doesn’t like me very much,” Lincoln said, sheepishly.

“Why do you think that?”

Lincoln shrugged. “Well, usually when we’re working in the lab together it’s fine. We even collaborate on our research sometimes. Lately, though, anytime I bring up you or werewolf stuff in conversation, she gets really quiet.”

“How often do you bring me up?” Daisy teased.

“Not that often. I just figured she’d want to know how your were doing with everything. You guys seem close,” Lincoln said. 

Daisy frowned again. She glanced at the door Jemma had just retreated from, wondering what that was all about. She knew Jemma was occasionally frustrated with Lincoln, but that should all be in the past now, right?

Eventually, they finished up their coffee and headed to their separate classes. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This time, Daisy was alone in her own apartment when the date circled in red crept up. At least she knew what to expect this time around. There was no question on whether or not the full moon would affect her this month. 

Even though the sun had set completely, it was only early evening, since winter was approaching, and Daisy was trying to finish up some homework. A knock on her door pulled Daisy away from her coding. 

When she opened it, Lincoln stood there, with a woman and a man Daisy hadn’t met behind him. He waved slightly in greeting. 

“Ready to go?” he asked. 

Daisy gulped but nodded. She grabbed a small bag with a few things she needed and followed Lincoln and these two new people (her pack mates) into the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (don't judge me for stealing the season 5 premiere title. It's fitting for this chapter ok?)   
> Well, after quite a long break, here's another chapter of this! I know it's lore-heavy, but I've gotta get this stuff out of the way before we get back into the good stuff.   
> Also, FYI, this story is going to get a lil NSFW in later chapters, so if that's not your cup of tea, sorry. If it is, just you wait!


	8. Running With the Wolves

Daisy was briefly introduced to her new pack mates on the walk to the woods. The woman was Elena, who Daisy had already been told so much about. She smiled in greeting to Daisy and turned to the other pack member and muttered something in Spanish to him, making him chuckle. Daisy had no idea what they said, but made a mental note to download a Spanish dictionary when she got home. 

The other man in the pack was named Joey. He was more quiet and reserved than Elena, but seemed just as friendly (despite their secret conversation, which Daisy couldn’t help thinking she was the subject of).

Daisy jogged to keep up with Lincoln as he led the way out. Once out of the lobby, they strolled along the paths until they reached the edge of campus. It was quieter and darker than the rest of campus and the current path they were on seemed to loop around the way they came, so Daisy could see why no one else came this way. Lincoln shoved aside some branches of an overgrown bush to reveal a space where the iron fence that encircled the campus was bent out of shape. He held the branches back while Elena and Joey jumped through the hole and gestured for Daisy to follow suit. 

As soon as she stepped in the woods, Daisy felt her heart beat faster. She couldn't tell if it was anxiety over shifting with the pack tonight or if it was her wolf brain being excited to run again. She was starting to feel jittery, though, and assumed it was more the latter.  

The rest of the pack seemed to be feeling the same surge of energy. Elena and Joey were chatting away excitedly about something with an extra spring in their step, while Lincoln kept fidgeting with his hands. 

The woods became thicker the further they got from the campus. Brambles snagged Daisy’s pants (baggy sweatpants, as recommended by Lincoln) as they trudged through the underbrush and reminded Daisy why her normal brain hated camping. 

The group reached an area where the overgrowth on the ground was cleared away slightly and stopped. 

“Is this one good, Lincoln, or should we keep going to the other one?” Elena asked. 

“I don’t think we’ve got enough time to get to the other ones. This one’s fine,” he replied. He tossed his bag down and everyone else did the same, so Daisy copied them.

She quirked an eyebrow at the brief conversation. “Other one what?”

“We cleared out a few areas like this around the woods so we could be a little more comfortable when we shift,” Lincoln replied, shrugging his shirt off. 

Daisy’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh, how 'comfortable' are we talking?”

Lincoln smirked. “Depends on who you are.”

He gestured towards the corners Elena and Joey had chosen. Elena was stark naked, confidently standing in the woods in all her glory. Joey had kicked off his shoes, but that was it, and he was determinedly staring at the canopy overhead. 

“I’m sure you remember that shifting with clothes can be a bit uncomfortable, so sometimes it’s easier to just start without,” Lincoln explained. 

“Alright, but I think I’ll keep my shirt on for now, if you don’t mind,” Daisy replied. 

Lincoln shrugged and chuckled. “Also, you might want to keep your bag off the ground. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to come back from a run and find out a raccoon stole your granola bars.”

Daisy snorted out a laugh at that. She scooped her bag off the ground and found a low branch to hang it on. The bag was sort of a miniature version of the one Jemma had packed for her first full moon: water bottle, snacks, an extra shirt, et cetera. 

The trees were so thick overhead that Daisy couldn’t see the moon. Daisy could feel the energy thrumming under her skin, so she knew it was almost time, though. Lincoln gave her one last reassuring smile. 

Then the pain started. 

Daisy had hoped it wouldn't be as bad, since she knew it was coming this time, but her hopes were dashed quickly. She didn’t know if she would ever get used to feeling her bones and skin twisting in this way. Somewhere around her, she heard other commotion, but she was too focused on the _pain_ all over her body. She fell to the ground, barely catching herself while her convulsing muscles tried to pull her into the fetal position. 

What did Lincoln say? _Embrace it, don’t fight the change. It’ll be faster. And don’t forget to breathe._

Daisy sucked in a few deep breaths and tried to relax her spasming muscles. Embrace it, embrace it, ow, ow, _ow!_

Finally, it was over. Daisy couldn’t tell if her 'embracing it' had made it go faster or not, but it was over and that’s what mattered. 

She laid on the grass, panting. When she caught her breath, she pushed herself to her feet (all four of them) and tried to get her bearings. 

Her mind wasn’t as jumbled as the last time, but it still felt like someone had shoved her out of the driver’s seat of her own car and she would have to wrestle for the wheel if she wanted any control. 

 _The wolf brain is your brain. Don’t fight it,_ Lincoln’s words echoed through her mind again and she huffed a sigh. She could take the back seat for one night. 

One of the first things she noticed was how uncomfortable she was, even though the pain had stopped. She realized it was because she still had on her human clothes and they were awkwardly bunching up around her legs and smashing her fur into her back. 

She shimmied out of them as best she could without thumbs. It involved a lot of undignified squirming, but the end result was her kicking off the offending shirt and pants and shaking out her fur. 

_See? Thumbs overrated._

Ah, good to have you back, Daisy thought sarcastically to her wolf brain. 

_Excited! Run! Wait…pack?_

Daisy glanced around. A gray and black wolf stretched nearby. Somehow, Daisy knew it was Lincoln, but her wolf brain wasn’t convinced.

_Friend?_

Yes, friend, dumbass. 

_Smell._

No!

_Smell!_

Daisy inched towards him, sniffing the air cautiously. He saw her approach and his ears pricked up and his mouth split into a toothy grin. She had no way to speak to him like this, but something about him said, “Hi, welcome!”

_Okay. Friend._

Yeah, thanks for that. 

She glanced to the other end of the clearing, where Joey and Elena had been. She only saw one wolf though, who was mostly black with a spray of white under his chin. He sat in the middle of the clearing, waiting. 

Suddenly, the third member of the pack appeared by pouncing out of the shadows on top of Joey. Joey yelped as the rust brown and tan wolf that was Elena knocked him to the ground and playfully danced away. It took them a few moments of wrestling with each other before they noticed Daisy. 

Elena trotted over, followed by Joey. Daisy’s ears flattened to her head. That was a weird sensation. 

The pack swarmed around her, sniffing around her from head to tail. She glanced them over and sniffed around to pick up their scents as well. Daisy could tell that Lincoln had been telling the truth: none of the pack was the wolf who attacked her. So who was it? 

When she felt Elena’s nose prod her hip, she had to protest. 

_Getting a little too friendly there, Elena._

Her protest came out in the form of a grumpy huff. Elena didn’t seem too offended and pulled Daisy’s tail before bounding off into the woods. 

If Daisy had her normal human face muscles, she would have smirked. She was starting to like Elena already. 

Lincoln loped off into the trees behind Elena and Daisy joined in the chase. 

This was how things were supposed to be. The four wolves ran through the woods, barely making a sound beyond their paws crunching the dry leaves coating the ground. Occasionally, Joey or Elena would pause to sniff the air and split from the pack. A few minutes later, a distant howl would mark their location and the remaining pack would respond and wait for them to catch up. Lincoln stayed beside Daisy the whole time, probably because this was her first night and he didn’t want to leave her alone. 

It wasn’t like she needed supervision, though. It was entirely instinct. 

While they waited for Joey to catch up from his latest jaunt, Daisy put her nose to the ground. She could smell so many things beyond the scent of dry leaves that she noticed trudging into the woods on two legs. Most of the smells she couldn’t identify, but she was sure she would have plenty of time to investigate them later. 

One particular scent drifting through the air caught her attention. It seemed vaguely familiar, but also had a threatening edge to it that made Daisy’s fur stand on end. 

_Go?_

No.

_Go! Find the smell._

What about the pack?

…

Joey joined the group at that point and the pack continued their run. Luckily, wolf brain let the strange smell rest and Daisy trotted after the group. 

This was more fun anyway. Zigzagging through the trees, nipping Elena’s ankles on the few occasions Daisy could catch up with her. Despite her human brain thinking how weird the whole situation was, it felt right. Daisy felt like she was finally where she belonged. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay again. Reports assigned during semester breaks are straight from the devil I tell you. Still working on getting as many chapters of this done over break, though, so be ready! It's gonna get significantly more fun from here on out! (Hopefully...)


	9. Red Riding Hood

Waking up naked in a field of wildflowers sounded like the start of a bad romance novel, but here Daisy was. She groaned and rolled over to block the rising sun from her eyes, only to have a stick jab her in the ribs. It would probably be best to go find her clothes. 

She dragged herself off the ground, dusted some of the dirt off her skin and trudged off in the general direction of where the pack left their stuff last night. She wasn’t too worried about being naked, since the rest of the pack seemed to have passed out elsewhere. Walking through the woods, with her squishy human feet getting stabbed on every sharp rock and twig, was significantly more relevant. 

Eventually, a rustle in the brush drew Daisy’s attention and she saw Joey shuffling through the trees. He nodded at her and strategically directed his eyes as far away from Daisy as he could manage. 

“Morning, Daisy,” he muttered.

Daisy murmured a similar greeting back and wrapped her arms around herself. 

Thankfully, they quickly happened upon their piles of clothes, where Elena and Lincoln were waiting. Daisy hurriedly shook out her clothes and pulled them on and then followed the pack back out towards campus. 

“So, how was your first run with the pack?” Lincoln asked. 

“It was good,” Daisy replied. “It felt…right.”

Lincoln smiled. “I’m glad. That’s usually the impression new werewolves get once they find their pack, but everyone adjusts differently. Elena and I were talking about coming out tomorrow night, too, if you’d like to join.”

Daisy originally would have thought she would never want to go out more than absolutely necessary. It wasn’t exactly comfortable to shift, but her wolf-brain seemed to be wagging its tail saying, _Yes! Go!_

“That sounds fun.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next night was just like the first, except they met at the fence at sundown. Joey elected to stay home this time to do some classwork, so the trio headed into the woods without him. 

Everything else was the same. The clearing, the teasing, the waiting, the shifting. It took a little longer to shift tonight, and took some concentration on Daisy’s part, but it felt less aggressive than full moon nights. 

Lincoln had told Daisy that the surrounding nights of the full moon tended to be less energetic than the full moon itself and the pack normally split up until morning. He offered to stay with Daisy to make her more comfortable, but Daisy wanted to explore a bit on her own. 

Once they shifted, Elena bounded off and Lincoln trotted in a different direction, leaving Daisy alone. She took her time stretching her muscles and then picked a random direction to wander. 

Lincoln was right. Daisy felt way more relaxed in wolf form tonight. Wolf-brain was still curiously prodding her to go investigate some scents, but Daisy didn’t feel like she was being dragged on autopilot to do so. Still, she had the whole night to explore, so she might as well. 

She chased a few squirrels, accidentally disturbed a badger den, and stumbled into a fairy circle. 

After a few hours of wandering through the woods, she smelled something. 

It was _that_ scent again. The one from last night with a hint of familiarity and danger to it. She didn’t have the pack to stay with tonight, so Daisy loped off to find the source. 

As the scent got stronger, Daisy slowed. She didn’t know what she would be stumbling into, so she had to be cautious. She reached a clearing in the trees, but stayed hidden in the outskirts of it. 

The near-full moon illuminated the wildflowers in the clearing and, with Daisy’s enhanced vision, it nearly looked like daylight. Then, she saw the source of the scent. 

It was Jemma. She was sitting with her back to a tree on the edge of the clearing and had a book in her lap. Next to her was a backpack with other books spilling out of it. 

Daisy’s human brain took over and she bounded into the clearing to say hello to Jemma. 

Jemma’s eyes shot up from her book at the noise and, a moment later, she was on her feet. Her eyes were wide and she stood in a defensive posture with one hand behind her back.

Daisy cocked her head. Why did she looked scared? 

Oh yeah, because you just look like a wolf, stupid. 

Wolf-brain snapped her gaze to the object in Jemma’s hand hidden behind her back. She saw a glint of silver and the shape of a knife. Daisy’s hair stood on end and wolf-brain started pushing her to leave. 

_Bad. Go. Dangerous._

Daisy saw Jemma’s eyes flick to the sky and bright moon above and cursed. 

“I didn’t mean to intrude. I was just leaving,” Jemma explained, slowly backing towards her bag. 

Daisy frowned. Even wolf-brain was saying, _wait, don’t leave!_

Daisy flopped on the ground and huffed. Jemma paused and looked confused. 

Daisy laid her head on her paws and tried to look as non-threatening as possible. 

Jemma took a few steps forward, which human-brain Daisy thought was a good sign. Wolf-brain, however, took over and she jumped to her feet and skittered back a few paces with her teeth bared. 

Jemma froze in place. 

_Dude, what the hell?_

_Knife! Bad._

Daisy’s eyes shot to the knife the same time Jemma’s did. Jemma muttered an apology and tossed the knife in the direction of her bag. Wolf-brain let Daisy relax and nudge forward slowly. 

Jemma narrowed her eyes, but crouched down to Daisy’s eye level. “Daisy?” she asked cautiously. 

Daisy sat back on her haunches and nodded, while her face broke into a toothy grin. 

“Oh, thank god,” Jemma sighed and plopped onto the ground. Daisy trotted up and sat directly in front of her. 

“What are you doing out tonight?” Jemma asked, “It’s not a full moon.”

Daisy shrugged. It was hard to convey human emotions in wolf-form. She put a paw on Jemma’s lap and then looked between the full moon and Jemma. Hopefully, they knew each other well enough that Jemma would understand Daisy’s attempts at communication. 

“What am I doing in the woods on a full moon?” Jemma translated. Daisy huffed and nodded. “Since Bobbi’s been having a hard time making the potion for me, I’ve been stuck inside a lot more during the day. Occasionally, I come out here to catch up on work overnight. I just wasn’t paying attention to the moon when I came out tonight.”  
Daisy rolled her eyes. Of course the nerd came out to the woods to _work,_ rather than do anything fun. 

A distant howl pulled both their attention. It was Lincoln. He was just checking in wondering where everyone was (after the first shift, Daisy was able to make sense of the subtleties of wolf interaction, especially howls). Daisy raised her nose in a quick response, and heard Elena do the same from another direction, before turning her attention back to Jemma.

“If you need to reconnect with the pack, you can go. We’ll catch up tomorrow,” Jemma assured. 

Daisy shrugged again. Surprisingly, wolf-brain wasn’t even telling her to run. She laid down in front of Jemma and gazed at her. 

Jemma smiled and went to retrieve her book. Once she settled down crossed-legged in the middle of the clearing, Daisy got up and circled around her back and laid her head on Jemma’s lap. 

Theoretically, Daisy could still read in wolf-form, it was just harder to comprehend the words. Whatever Jemma was working on, Daisy had no hopes to understand. She opted to just look at the pictures, even though they were just as abstract. 

Occasionally, Jemma would muse something she read out loud, but none of it meant anything to Daisy. Still, she sat and listened, enjoying the calm of being nestled next to Jemma. Even the edge of danger, which Daisy guessed probably stemmed from the vampire part of her scent, faded after awhile. 

The moon set on the horizon, but Daisy was too comfortable to bother exploring anymore and fell asleep with her head still perched on Jemma’s lap. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Daisy. Daisy, wake up,” Jemma’s whispered voice dragged Daisy from sleep, but Daisy was less grumpy about it than she normally would have been. She wasn’t nearly as exhausted as she was after her full moon runs so far. 

She cracked her eyes open. The sun was just started to poke through the bases of the trees, staining the sky above with light purples and streaks of yellow. She would have loved to stay and watched the rest of the sunrise, but then she realized she was still on Jemma’s lap. 

“Shit!” she hissed. She jerked upright. “You need to get inside!”

Jemma shrugged and stared at the sky. “Yes, that’s why I was waking you up. It’s not urgent at the moment, but we’ll probably need to find your…clothes.”

Daisy realized then that she was naked again. In front of Jemma. This was the most inconvenient part of shifting, not to mention chilly.  

Daisy wrapped her arms around her chest. She belatedly realized that Jemma’s cardigan was bunched up on the ground beside Daisy. Jemma had probably draped it over Daisy whenever she shifted back. Daisy swiped it and tried to cover herself as best as possible. Jemma kept her eyes averted, but Daisy swore she saw her eyes drifting towards her a few times. 

Daisy muttered out the vague direction of where she had stashed her stuff and waited for Jemma to pack up her backpack before setting off. 

“Do you normally stay until sunrise?” Daisy asked. 

“No, usually only a few hours,” Jemma replied. 

“You could have left me, you know.” 

Jemma smiled. “Yes, but you just looked so comfortable.”

Daisy felt a flush creeping up her face. 

They reached the tree where Daisy’s bag was hanging. Jemma turned the opposite direction while Daisy tugged on her sweats and downed the bottle of water. Then, they headed back towards campus to get Jemma inside before the sun fully rose. 

“So, what was the deal with the knife last night?” Daisy finally asked. 

Jemma blanched. “You remember that, then?”

“Yeah. Hard to forget your friend pulling a knife on you,” Daisy teased. 

“In my defense, I didn’t know it was you,” Jemma said, “It’s just a precaution. I may be stronger than the average human, but I’m not invulnerable to werewolf teeth. In the past, most werewolves I’ve met haven’t exactly been as…civilized as the pack here seems to be.”

“What’s it made out of?” Daisy asked, remembering her violent reaction to it. 

Jemma looked sheepish. “Pure silver. It’s lethal to werewolves if it gets in their blood stream.”

Daisy blinked. Well, that would have been good information to know. Also good to know would have been that her friend carried around a weapon that could kill members of her species. 

They were silent for the rest of the walk. The sun was already streaming over the ground leading up to the dorm building. Jemma winced, but otherwise didn’t seem too discomforted by the sun. Still, Daisy kept an eye on her in case she had a sudden bad reaction. 

“Why do you think Bobbi hasn’t been able to make the potion for you?” Daisy asked. 

“I’m guessing it has something to do with the increased amount of Watchdogs around campus,” Jemma explained, “The Dean thinks they’re keeping tabs on and stealing shipments of strange materials to the university as proof that there are supernatural students. Orders of lots of important things have been interrupted recently.” A dark look crossed her face briefly. 

They reached the front door and Jemma darted inside. She sighed in relief once the doors blocked the remaining sun. Daisy followed Jemma to the elevator. 

She glanced at Jemma’s arms while they waited. Her normally pale skin was dusted lightly pink, like she had spent hours in the sun, rather than minutes. 

They stepped into the elevator and Daisy prodded her floor number and then Jemma’s. As the door opened to deposit her on her floor, she turned to Jemma. 

“So, same place next month?” Daisy asked with a teasing smirk. 

“Agreed,” Jemma smiled. “In the mean time, lunch tomorrow?”

“Definitely.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait again, guys! """"Break"""" was entirely writing papers and preparing for the next semester, so I didn't get as much writing done as I had hoped. And now that school's back on I'm already dying lol.  
> But! Here's a chapter! And the next chapter is in progress! And soon we start getting into more fun stuff! So there's that to look forward to!


	10. Bloodletting

The next months fell into a routine. Schoolwork, full moon runs, Mario Kart tournaments with the pack, hanging out with Jemma. The last week of the semester, Daisy spent in the lab with Jemma, Fitz, and Bobbi. Jemma and Bobbi were working on lab reports and final runs of experiments. Bobbi’s frequently involved sparks or strange-colored smoke puffing out of a beaker, which Daisy tried to avoid going near. Instead, Daisy stared Fitz down while she brutally dismantled his programming project. Each time, he cursed and glared at his computer screen, while Daisy watched the code apparently rewrite itself across her screen. Eventually, she cut him some slack, helped him fix the security leaks, and they teamed up to take apart another student’s program. 

The semester wrapped up, and most of the students headed home for break. The Erebus students, however, stayed in the dorms and used the relative desertion of campus to let their freak flags fly. The upcoming winter solstice was a huge holiday for many of them, and there were so many parties that Daisy couldn’t decide which one to go to. 

The werewolves were even allowed to run through the campus during the full moon closest to Christmas, so long as they were careful to avoid human students. 

Daisy still met Jemma on the second night of the full moon. They moved the location to the quad, since Jemma didn’t have to hide being out at night. They decided it would be a regular thing that they would meet for awhile each lunar cycle. With all their class work, and Jemma’s inability to go outside during the day, the amount of time they could spend together was limited. Hanging out while Daisy was in wolf form wasn’t ideal, but it was something until the Watchdogs situation was worked out. 

Jemma was amused by Daisy’s inability to back talk him in wolf form anyway. She even had the audacity to try to play fetch with her one time with a pinecone. Daisy’s wolf-brain was all for it and tried to push her to chase after the pinecone. Human brain was not having it and Daisy hoped her disdain was adequately expressed in her face. 

Eventually, the human students drifted back onto campus. Daisy even met a few of them who were in on the secret and had friends in the Erebus school. The new semester started with new challenges. The cold evenings spent with the pack gradually got warmer as spring teased its arrival. 

Daisy was getting ready to meet Jemma for a tutoring session in statistics one night. Just before Daisy left the dorm, Jemma texted and said she had to cancel. She gave no explanation, which concerned Daisy, but she realized Jemma was probably busy. 

Then the next day, Jemma cancelled on their lunch date. Still, understandable. It was a sunny day and Bobbi still hadn’t been able to find the supplies to make Jemma’s potion. Some of Bobbi’s classes even had to be suspended because they didn’t have any materials to work with. 

Then, a few days after that, Jemma cancelled their movie night. 

Now, Daisy was getting worried. None of their friends had seen Jemma in a few weeks. Daisy had yet to get an explanation from Jemma and it wasn’t like her to cancel so many things. Could vampires get sick?

After their next meet up was unceremoniously cancelled, Daisy marched upstairs to Jemma’s floor. She was partly annoyed that she kept getting blown off, but mostly concerned that something was wrong. Was it something she had said?

She knocked on the door and waited. And waited. She knocked again. 

When she didn’t get an answer, she pressed an ear to the door. She could hear Jemma in her kitchen. The soft clink of a spoon on a ceramic cup gave her away. 

“Jemma?” 

Daisy knocked again and waited. Eventually, she heard barely audible footsteps approach the door. The door opened a crack and Daisy gaped. 

Jemma was always pale, but now her skin was practically translucent. She had deep, purple circles under her eyes and her cheeks looked hollow. Her eyes were unusually dull and clouded. Even her hair looked limp and lifeless. 

“What happened? Are you okay?” Daisy asked. 

Jemma held the door firmly open only a few inches, to keep Daisy from coming in. “I’m fine. Just a little under the weather.”

Even her voice sounded weak. 

“Cut the crap. I asked Bobbi and she said vampires don’t get sick, so what’s wrong?” Daisy demanded. 

“Nothing’s wrong. I—”

“ _Jemma_.”

Jemma glared at Daisy, but sighed and let the door open further to invite Daisy in. Daisy stepped in and closed the door behind her, but quickly leveled Jemma with a stare again. She wasn’t getting off the hook. Jemma shifted uncomfortably. 

“I’m…I’m out of blood,” she muttered. 

“Excuse me?”

Jemma glared at Daisy. “Part of being a vampire is that I need to drink blood, remember?”

“…Yeah.”

“I usually have a steady prepackaged supply delivered from a local place,” Jemma explained. “But the damn Watchdogs have been taking more and more of our supplies lately and I ran out.”

“Shit,” Daisy whispered. “Doesn’t the university—”

“They did,” Jemma interrupted. “I’ve already used up their emergency supply, which they didn’t have much of anyway.”

Daisy sank into the couch while Jemma agitatedly stirred her tea. 

“Can you die from this?” she asked bluntly.

For once, Jemma didn’t scold her for asking personal questions. She shrugged. “Possibly. It feels like I’m dehydrated and starving to death at once. I figured it was better for everyone if I just stayed home until this whole situation gets figured out.”

“What if it doesn’t get worked out in time?”

Jemma shrugged again. “I’ve already tried every possible alternative I could find and nothing has worked.”

“Except the original source, right?” Daisy prodded. 

Jemma’s gaze snapped up. “What?”  

That was the first time Daisy had seen any energy from her all day.

“You haven’t tried getting it from someone who naturally makes it, have you?” Daisy asked, knowing the answer. 

Jemma looked like a deer in the headlights. “I—No…”

Daisy held her arms out. “Well, I’m right here. I make, like, a ton of blood every day, right?”

“Less than half a pint, actually.”

“Whatever. I’ll be your donor,” Daisy announced. 

“I—I don’t know…”

Daisy marched over to Jemma and stood right in front of her. Jemma stiffened and her pupils dilated. Daisy tried not to be too concerned by that. 

“I’m not going to let my best friend shrivel up and die because some douchebags stole your dinner,” Daisy insisted. 

Jemma still looked hesitant. “I—I don’t have any phlebotomy instruments here.”

“Yes, you do,” Daisy said. She pointed to the corners of Jemma’s mouth. “They’re those scary fangs you flashed at me when I blew your cover.”

Jemma’s skeptical expression morphed into abject horror. “No! No no no, definitely not. I haven't bitten anyone in…decades! Almost a century! I’m not changing that now.”

“Yes, you are,” Daisy said. “Don’t be a prude about it. You’re possibly dying.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“ _No!”_

_“Jemma!”_

Jemma cut off her next protest. Her eyes scanned Daisy’s, before drifting lower. Jemma gulped and took a step back. 

“Are you sure?” she asked. 

“Yes. Let me help you, Jemma,” Daisy pleaded. “Next time, I’ll get you a Watchdog to eat.”

Jemma crinkled up her nose. “Not funny. But if you’re adamant, we’re doing this right.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So is this how your species survived the Dark Ages? Dragging people into back alleys and attacking their necks with alcohol and cotton swabs?”

Jemma glared at her, but continued counting. She had two fingers pressed against the inside of Daisy’s wrist and was watching the second hand tick on her watch. Once Jemma was sure Daisy wasn’t going to back down, she had hustled Daisy into her bedroom, where she would be more comfortable, and ran around the apartment gathering supplies. Daisy sat on the edge of Jemma’s bed while Jemma fussed around her. 

The anticipation was slowly killing Daisy. Daisy didn’t particularly want to be bitten in the neck, but she had to help Jemma.

Jemma finished her counting and shined a small flashlight into Daisy’s eyes.

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous,” Daisy complained. 

“I’m making sure you don’t have any urgent underlying health conditions before I agree to do this,” Jemma explained. “Since you’re not giving me the opportunity to run proper tests, I’m making do.”

“I promise you I’m not anemic,” Daisy said. “Now can we get this over with?”

Jemma paused her inspection and leveled Daisy with a serious look. “If you don’t want to do this—”

“I’m doing it,” Daisy insisted. It was like going to the doctor; no one _wanted_ to do it, because it would be probably be unpleasant, but they had to. Daisy noticed that Jemma’s fingers felt like ice on her wrist and she had a slight tremor in her hands. She really had to do this. 

Jemma put the flashlight down and sighed. “I guess everything looks fine.”

“Thank you.”

Jemma pressed her lips together in a tight line. “Are you ready?”

Daisy gulped and nodded. Jemma looked just as nervous as Daisy felt. The only indication that Daisy wasn’t forcing her to do something completely unthinkable was that Jemma’s eyes kept flicking to Daisy’s neck and flashing hungrily. 

Daisy scooted backwards on the bed and crossed her legs to make room for Jemma. Jemma slid onto the bed on her knees and sat back on her heels. Her slow movement still made Daisy nearly flinch back, but she restrained herself. Her heart was racing and she wasn’t sure why. Well, it’s not every day she offered herself as a snack to an apex predator.

“Last chance to back out.” Jemma nudged closer to Daisy so her knees were touching Daisy’s crossed legs.

“Jemma,” Daisy huffed. “Bite me.”

She was expecting an offended grimace or unamused tutting in response from Jemma. She wasn’t expecting Jemma to throw herself at Daisy. 

She cringed in preparation for the pain, before she realized Jemma was just giving her a tight hug. 

“Thank you,” Jemma whispered into Daisy’s neck. 

Daisy swore she heard a sniffle. Okay, it was hard to be afraid of an ‘apex predator’ who started crying when she was about to bite someone. 

Well, it was hard to be afraid of Jemma in general. Consciously, anyway. Daisy’s instincts didn’t seem to agree. 

But Daisy trusted Jemma completely. She gently patted the back of Jemma’s arm in reassurance. 

Jemma’s arms loosened from Daisy’s shoulders and one hand slid to the side of her neck. Her icy fingers left a cold trail as they softly searched for something. When they found what they were looking for, they slid down and rested on Daisy’s collarbone and Jemma’s lips replaced them. 

Without warning, Daisy felt two sharp jabs in her neck. She bit back the cry of pain that threatened to come out, but it escaped as a whine anyway. Jemma’s other hand rested on the opposite side of Daisy’s neck and her fingers stroked up and down in a comforting gesture. 

Daisy tried to not think about what was happening, but she still felt a bit light-headed. 

It wasn’t entirely unpleasant. It almost felt like Jemma was just giving her a hickey. She alternated gentle sucking and running her tongue along the area. It was only when her tongue touched the two raw puncture wounds that Daisy was reminded what she was doing. 

Daisy didn’t realize that Jemma had moved, but suddenly she was straddling Daisy’s lap. The hand that was soothingly rubbing Daisy’s neck slid up, tangled in her hair, and jerked her head to the side. The slight tugging on her hair twinged, but it was a good kind of pain. 

Jemma’s sucking got harsher and she lightly scraped her teeth along the skin of Daisy’s neck with the occasional flick of her tongue. Daisy gasped but was distracted from the lips on her neck by Jemma’s entire body being pressed against her chest. Daisy’s heart pounded and a warmth trickled through her body. She couldn’t tell if it was a by-product of the blood loss and light-headedness or something else. 

Jemma finally disconnected from Daisy’s neck, pressing a final kiss to the sore spot. She pulled back and her eyes met Daisy’s. They seemed to already have regained their normal brightness, but had a hint of red around her irises. Her eyes flicked to Daisy’s lips briefly, but Daisy might have imagined that. The room was spinning a bit more than she realized. 

A hand pressed into Daisy’s chest and pushed her back into the bed. 

“Lie still,” Jemma whispered, hovering closely over her. Daisy had the sudden urge to pull her closer. 

Then, the weight of Jemma on her disappeared. A moment later, there was a slight pressure on her neck as Jemma pressed a cotton ball into the puncture wounds. Daisy winced slightly, but felt too exhausted to tell her off. 

“Rest. I’ll be here,” was the last whisper she heard before her eyes slid closed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy cracked her eyes open. The world had stopped spinning at least. She pushed herself upright, only to have Jemma appear in front of her. 

“Good, you’re up. Do you feel alright?” Jemma rambled. 

Daisy lurched and mumbled under her breath, “Jesus. Give a girl some warning before you pop up out of nowhere.”

“It wasn’t out of nowhere, I was right next to you.”

“Were you just sitting there watching me sleep?”

Jemma flushed. Daisy was glad to see that her skin had some color again. The dark circles under Jemma’s eyes were gone and the fingers that tilted Daisy’s head to the side to inspect the bite marks were warm. 

“I wanted to make sure you didn’t pass out for too long,” Jemma defended. “You were only out for about ten minutes, which is normal. Do you need anything?”

Daisy shrugged. “I wouldn’t mind a drink.”

Jemma nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Daisy used her brief absence to take stock of how she felt without Jemma worrying. 

She stretched her neck gently. It ached, but not terribly. She ran her fingers over the place she had felt Jemma’s teeth. There were already two dot bandaids stuck over the punctures, probably put there while Daisy was asleep, and the skin around them felt hot. Daisy slid off the bed and over to the full length mirror in the corner. Her legs wobbled a bit on standing. 

Surrounding the two tan bandaids was a large, splotchy, deep purple and red bruise. That looked like it was going to be hard to hide. Daisy realized her suspicion earlier was correct and it _did_ just look like a hickey. The only indication that it was anything different was the bandaids. 

Jemma slipped back in the room and Daisy tried to look like she wasn’t checking out her bruise. Jemma had a glass of orange juice in one hand and plate with an omelet on it in the other. 

“You should lie back down for awhile,” Jemma scolded. 

Daisy rolled her eyes. “I’m fine, seriously.”

Jemma frowned and look unconvinced. “At least eat something.”

Daisy was never one to turn down food. She hopped back onto the bed and munched on the omelet. Jemma pulled a chair up beside the bed and watched Daisy eat. She was unusually quiet and Daisy caught Jemma inspecting her a few times like Daisy would pass out any second. 

She tried to focus on her food, as opposed to Jemma’s scrutiny or the strange feeling in her chest. 

Daisy couldn’t keep her eyes from drifting to Jemma every few seconds, though she tried to stop it. She also felt like she had a magnet stuck under her sternum that was slowly pulling her towards Jemma. Every detail was seared into Daisy’s mind, despite how cloudy she felt at the time. The feeling of Jemma’s chest pressed against her, her lips on her neck, her fingernails scratching Daisy’s scalp. 

Daisy flushed and stared at the remains of her omelet. Maybe this was a side effect of vampire bites. Maybe that’s why Jemma didn’t want to do it, initially (and possibly why Jemma was staring so intently). 

The room felt too hot and Daisy chanced looking up from her plate, only slightly. He gaze landed on Jemma’s knees and the memory of them wrapped around Daisy’s hips sprung to mind. 

Daisy’s mouth went dry and she felt like her face was on fire. 

She shoved the rest of the omelet in her mouth, downed the orange juice, and hopped up from the bed. 

“Thanks for the snack, but I should probably be going. Lots of homework and all that,” Daisy mumbled. 

Jemma shot up from her chair. “Are you sure you’re feeling alright? I wouldn’t want you to have a bad reaction after you get home.”

She was standing so close Daisy could feel the fresh warmth Jemma was radiating and…was she wearing perfume or was Daisy imagining it?

“I swear I’m fine,” Daisy said, trying to feign conviction. “I’m probably going to take another nap and then get some work done.”

Daisy shuffled out to the kitchen with Jemma trailing behind. She deposited her dishes in the sink and made sure she had her dorm key, before she remembered something. 

“Oh, the full moon’s coming up soon,” Daisy reminded Jemma. 

Jemma nodded, but had a smirk on her lips. “Yes, as it does every month.”

“I know that,” Daisy said with an eyeroll, “The pack isn’t going out the night after the full moon this time, but we will be going out the night before, it you want to join.”

Jemma smiled and nodded. “I’ll be in the same place as always.”

Daisy’s heart fluttered at the statement. Which it always did, right? Because she liked hanging out with Jemma.

Daisy mumbled a goodbye to Jemma and then ran out the door to head back to her place. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What??? Two chapters in one weekend?!?! It's a Christmas miracle!


	11. Blood Moon

Daisy tried not to think about her weird reaction to Jemma after she bit her. Surely, the effects of whatever it was would wear off soon right? It had to be a weird, vampire trick, like the mind-control thing, right? Right?

Daisy couldn’t stop thinking about it, though. She would be in class and the memory would pop into her head and she would completely forget what she was doing. 

Daisy walked through the campus and scowled at the Free Speech Corner, where a crowd of Watchdogs and supporters was gathered. It wasn’t so much what they were spewing anymore that bothered her, though it did. It was the size of the crowd around them.

The hairy one, who was holding the megaphone and was decked out in everything from the army surplus store he could fit on his body, seemed to be in charge. A bunch of camouflage-clad guys with dog head masks perched on their heads cheered him on, as well as a few random students. 

He ranted about the ‘plague’ of ‘non-human hell-spawn’ on the campus and how they needed to be eliminated in whatever way necessary to make their school great again. Most of the students who weren’t in camouflage looked skeptical of his claims, but Daisy saw a few nod fervently in agreement. The leader’s eyes landed and Daisy as she strode by and she flipped him off. 

“You see! Another victim of the ravenous demons that haunt this city!” he shouted. It took Daisy a minute to realize he was pointing at her and she froze. What, did she have a giant sign on her back that said ‘I’m a werewolf?’

The hairy guy pushed through the crowd and marched up to her. He shoved the megaphone in her face. Daisy noticed a silver bullet casing hanging from a chain around his neck and tried not to flinch.

“How did you get that bite mark on your neck?” he demanded. 

Daisy blanched and her hand shot to her neck. Luckily, she had replaced the bandage over the puncture wound, so it just looked like a bruise. 

“What I do in my bedroom is none of your business,” Daisy snapped into the megaphone, loud enough that the crowd could hear her. 

A few students in the crowd snickered and the leader looked off-put for a split second. He spun and continued his ranting to the crowd. Daisy turned on her heel and power-walked away from there, making a note to cover up the mark from now on. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You do research and stuff, right?” Daisy asked.

Lincoln quirked an eyebrow over his coffee at her. “Yeah.”

“What do you know about vampires?” Daisy asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

“Girlfriend trouble?”

Daisy choked on her coffee. “Excuse me?”

“Are you and Jemma…not together?” Lincoln asked. 

“No! God, no. We’re just friends,” Daisy stammered out. She could feel heat rising to her cheeks and hoped Lincoln didn’t notice it. Why was she getting so defensive? It’s not the first time someone thought she was dating one of her friends. She typically just played it off as a joke, so why was this different?

Lincoln looked slightly relieved. “Sorry, you guys just seem really close. I haven’t done a lot of research on vampires, since they're pretty private, but I know a bit. What do you want to know that you can’t just ask Jemma?”

Daisy picked at the lip of her paper coffee cup and tried to think of how to phrase the question. “So vampires….bite people, yeah?” Even to Daisy that sounded dumb. 

But Lincoln just shrugged. “Not so much anymore. It used to be the only way for them to…feed. But most of them have switched to safer alternatives.”

Daisy’s stomach plunged. “Safer?” 

“For them, I mean,” Lincoln replied. “It puts them in a vulnerable position to have to get that close to a person. A lot of vampires ended up dead because they were distracted while feeding.”

Daisy winced. “Wooden stakes through the heart?”

Lincoln snorted. “Well, yeah. But getting stabbed in the heart will kill anyone, not just vampires.”

“Fair.”

“I’ve also never met a vampire who bit anyone they weren’t romantically involved with. It’s an intimate experience,” Lincoln said. He shifted like he was uncomfortable talking about the subject. 

“What do you mean? Are there…side effects?”

“Shouldn’t you be asking Jemma? I imagine she knows a bit more about it than I do,” Lincoln protested. 

Daisy shrugged. “She doesn’t like when I ask a lot of personal questions.” That wasn’t exactly true since they became friends, but Daisy thought this one was a bit too personal.

Lincoln eyed her suspiciously. “As far as I know, no. There’s been limited research on the process, but what has been done only shows increased levels of oxytocin in both parties. It takes a more complicated process to turn someone, if that’s what you’re curious about, but I don’t know it.”

Daisy frowned. She was curious about the turning thing, but that wasn’t why she was asking. Lincoln’s answer would be a lot more helpful if she could remember what oxytocin was, but she wasn't going to nag him anymore. She fidgeted with the scarf wrapped around her neck (that, frankly, was annoying the crap out of her, but she definitely wasn’t taking it off now) and they finished their coffee. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pack met in the woods that night. Daisy gazed up through the canopy of leaves at the moon. It was strange being out in the woods when the moon was on the other side of full. This time, she knew that the jittery feeling in her chest wasn’t due to the energy of the moon. After her conversation with Lincoln that afternoon (and an uncomfortable Google session where she found out exactly what oxytocin, a.k.a. the ‘love hormone’ did), Daisy resolved to talk to Jemma in the morning about that night. 

The moon was finally high enough that they could pull enough energy to change. It was harder than usual, took longer, and required Daisy’s full concentration. Since the moon was increasing tonight, it wasn’t like they had any residual energy from the night before to work with. 

Eventually, the whole pack managed to shift and they set off. They ran together for the first part of the night, nipping at each other’s heels, racing through the trees, and just enjoying the camaraderie. 

A few hours in, Lincoln picked up a scent. His ears pricked forwards and he sniffed the air trying to get a better read on it. He huffed that he was going to go investigate and trotted off. Elena and Joey just shrugged and kept running and Daisy shortly joined them. 

Eventually, Daisy picked up Jemma’s scent and split from the pack as well. 

She found Jemma in their clearing as usual, but Jemma wasn’t sitting with a pile of books like she normally was. She was pacing. Daisy cocked her head and trotted forward. 

Jemma saw her approach and stiffened slightly. Daisy slowed her pace as wolf-brain screamed _something’s wrong._

“Daisy,” Jemma started. She crouched down to Daisy’s eye level. “We need to talk.”

Daisy agreed, but _now?_ She whimpered the question to Jemma.

“Sorry, but yes. I have some things I need to say and I’d rather you not be able to interrupt me,” Jemma said. 

 _Rude!_ Daisy barked. But…fair. 

Jemma took a slow breath. 

Before she could let it out, a gun shot rang through the trees. 

Daisy instinctively flattened herself to the ground. The was close. Not close enough to be aimed at her or Jemma, but _too close._ Her ears swiveled around trying to triangulate where exactly it came from. The ringing still echoed through the trees. 

It was almost enough to drown out the faint yelp that echoed after it. 

Daisy locked eyes with Jemma. She heard it too. 

Daisy shot off in the direction of the noise. Jemma would catch up. 

She sprinted through the trees as fast as she could push her legs, adjusting her course occasionally when another whimper crept through the trees. 

Another wolf burst converged on Daisy’s path. It was Joey. He yelped a question at her while they ran, but Daisy didn’t have an answer. The scent of blood drifted towards them and got stronger as they ran. 

Eventually, they skidded to a stop before tripping over a pile of black and gray fur. 

It was Lincoln. 

He was lying on his side and breathing heavily. A bloody wound punctured his ribs, just below his shoulder. 

Daisy whined. No no no no. This couldn’t be happening. 

Elena eventually appeared as well and started pacing. She glanced between Daisy and Lincoln, obviously saying _what can we do?_

Nothing that Daisy could think of. They didn’t exactly have thumbs to put pressure on the wound or have any knowledge of first aid. 

Daisy knew who did though. 

And she chose that moment to burst through the trees and collide with Daisy’s back before taking in the situation.

“Oh god,” Jemma whispered. She tore off her outer shirt, wadded it up and jammed it against the bullet hole. Lincoln yelped. 

“I don’t-I don’t have anything here— Where did you store your things tonight?” Jemma asked. 

Daisy nodded back in the woods. 

“Go get them,” Jemma commanded. “Especially Lincoln’s. He might have something in his bag I can use. I’ll call the campus hospital. And stay together!”

Daisy nodded and she, Joey, and Elena bounded off towards the clearing where they had stored their bags earlier. It took some maneuvering, but Daisy managed clamp both her bag and Lincoln’s in her teeth and led the way back to Jemma and Lincoln. 

Halfway there, she collapsed. She glanced up. The moon was setting already and sapping the last of her energy. She could feel her bones remodeling and her skin shifting. She didn’t have time for this. Elena finished shifting back first and grabbed the bags and sprinted the rest of the way. 

Daisy finally fully shifted and dragged herself to her feet. Shifting was exhausting. There was a reason that she normally napped for awhile after shifting back, but she couldn’t spare that time now. 

When she got back, Elena was putting pressure on Lincoln’s wound while Jemma frantically rummaged through all their bags. As Daisy watched, the pile of fur and blood that was Lincoln seemed to shrink. Jemma noticed this as well, and paused her search. 

“No no no no, don’t shift back! You’ll cause more damage!” she commanded. 

Lincoln whined, like he was trying to listen, but there was no stopping it now. He howled through the extra pain of shifting combined with the stretching and tearing of the bullet wound until he was fully human and panting on the ground. 

Jemma rolled him to his back and gasped. 

“What? What is it?” Daisy asked. 

Jemma pointed to the skin around the bullet hole. The parts that weren’t covered in blood had bluish-gray tendrils branching out from the wound. “Silver bullet,” Jemma said gravely. “I suspected it might be, but I was hoping it was wrong. The doctors at the university are on their way with a sulfur compound that might neutralize it, but I don’t know if they’ll get here in time.”

“So, what can you do?” Elena demanded. 

Jemma’s eyes darted around the scene, weighing her options before responding. “I can try to remove the bullet. It might prevent more silver from getting in his bloodstream, but I don’t know how much it will help.”

“Do it.” 

The weak whisper came from Lincoln. He was covered in sweat and ghostly pale already. Daisy grabbed his hand and nodded at Jemma. 

Jemma hesitated, but pulled a knife out of her pocket. Daisy noticed that she had swapped out the silver knife she used to bring with her for this plain steel one. She only had a moment to think that, before Jemma plunged it into the bullet wound. 

Lincoln screamed and nearly crushed Daisy’s hand. Jemma dug around the hole for what seemed like only seconds before she pulled out the tiny silver bullet and tossed it aside. She then grabbed her balled up shirt from the ground and pressed it back into the wound. 

“What now?” Daisy asked. 

Jemma shook her head and seemed to be fighting back tears. “We can only stop the bleeding as much as possible until the doctors get here, but I think the silver has already spread too far.”

Daisy’s stomach dropped. Lincoln looked like he was fading fast. The blue-gray tendrils from the wound rapidly crept up the veins across Lincoln’s chest. Jemma occasionally barked out a command to adjust Lincoln to try to keep him from going into shock, but even Daisy could tell that it was too late. His fingers in hers weakened by the second until eventually, they went slack. 

Daisy felt like her heart stopped with his. This couldn’t be happening. He was there when Daisy felt like she was lost with the whole werewolf thing. He guided her through it and gave her a place that felt like home. And someone shot him.

She remembered the silver bullet on the grubby Watchdog’s neck and knew exactly who did it. 

She growled and pushed herself to her feet. She may not have her wolf-form’s sense of smell right now, but she knew they wouldn’t have been able to get far. 

A hand snapped around her ankle before she could get very far. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jemma snapped.

“I’m going to find the bastards who did this and rip them apart,” Daisy hissed. 

“No, you’re not. The last thing we need is any of you to wander off and get yourselves killed as well,” Jemma said. “Everyone stays here.”

Daisy was tempted to argue, but she was just too exhausted. She sat down with the remainder of her pack, brushed the tears out of her eyes, and watched the sun slowly rise through the trees until they heard the crash of the Erebus doctors coming through the trees. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna blame the fact that we're starting to get to the good parts of the plot for my relative regularity in posting. Hopefully I can keep this up lol, but in the mean time, enjoy!


	12. In The Company of Wolves

Daisy picked at the threadbare chair in Coulson’s office and glanced around. Jemma sat next to her staring determinedly ahead, her clothes and hands still stained with blood. Joey sat on Daisy’s other side. He rested his chin in his hands and took deep, shaky breaths. Elena was given a chair, but she preferred to stand. Her hands gripped the back of the chair so hard her knuckles were white and there seemed to be indentations forming in the wood. 

Daisy could only imagine the pain Joey and Elena were feeling. Daisy felt like her heart had been ripped out and stomped on and she had only known Lincoln for a few months. It still felt like her family had been shredded. 

Across from them, behind his desk, sat Coulson. He glared down at the report the hospital staff had given him and rubbed his temples. May leaned against the wall and stared out the window. On the surface, Daisy would have thought she was just disinterested in everything that had happened, but Daisy saw the tears welled up in May’s eyes when they were escorted in.

Coulson sighed and glanced up at them. He hesitated another moment before he spoke. 

“Lincoln Campbell’s death is a tragedy and one that could have been avoided,” he began. “I assure you, a full-scale investigation is going to be launched to determine how the Watchdogs were allowed to be active on our campus and how they had access to those kinds of weapons.”

“An investigation?” Elena snapped. “A student is dead. What we need is action!”

“I understand that you’re hurting right now, but we can’t do anything rash. Unfortunately, the main campus administration has the final say in what groups are permitted to operate,” Coulson placated, but he pulled a grimace. “Violent action from any of our students will probably lead to them disbanding the Erebus school entirely. The current administration isn’t too fond of the fact that we exist anyway. All we need to give them is an excuse.”

Elena growled and started to pace. 

Daisy dug her fingernails into her palms and tried not to glare at Coulson. She could still feel the shadow of Lincoln’s hand in hers while he bled out and squeezed her eyes shut to try to block the memory. The shadow was replaced by a real hand and Daisy’s eyes shot open. 

Jemma had done her best to wipe the blood off her hands before they were hustled into Coulson’s office, but the stain was still there. She uncurled Daisy’s fingers and intertwined them with her own. She squeezed gently and gave Daisy a watery smile. Daisy’s heart swelled with affection and she turned her attention back to Coulson. 

He was probably right, but they couldn’t sit around and do nothing while there was an ‘investigation.’ The only thing stopping Daisy from arguing was the fact that Coulson looked just as unhappy about this response. 

“We have grief counseling available for all of you in case you need to talk. In the mean time we need to worry about the safety of our students,” Coulson said, “We’re putting the school on lockdown until further notice. No one leaves the dorms at night.”

The room erupted. 

“You can’t do that!”

“The full moon is tonight!”

“We can’t stay locked inside all night—”

“Hey!” May’s voice echoed through the room and she slammed her hands down on Coulson’s desk. 

The pack fell silent. 

“The Watchdogs have the ability to kill you all and know where to find you on the full moon. Killing Lincoln is going to make them cocky and if you’re in the woods, it’s just asking them to shoot you,” May growled. “We are _not_ letting them hurt anyone else, and if that requires locking you up, so be it.”

Her words were harsh, but Daisy could see the pain in her eyes.

“What are we supposed to do about the full moon?” Daisy asked. “We can’t just not change.”

“Actually, we can,” Elena said. “It’s difficult and painful, but I’ve managed before.”

“Well, that sounds pleasant,” Joey grumbled. 

Coulson shrugged. “That’s settled then—”

“It’s not that easy,” Elena countered. “Lincoln once told me, the pack pulls energy from each other. The effects of the moon are magnified between us, which makes shifting easier and gives us more control. That also means it’s harder to resist shifting when we’re together. The one time I managed to resist was before I found the pack.”

“Sounds like we need to separate you then,” May said. 

The room erupted again into protests until May leveled them all with a glare. 

“May is right,” Coulson said. “The last thing we need is three stressed out werewolves crammed into the same space. That’s just asking for someone to get hurt, likely yourselves.”

“Being isolated makes it worse,” Daisy grumbled, remembering her first shift. 

“We’re willing to hear suggestions,” Coulson said. 

The room was silent for a beat. 

“I might have an idea,” Jemma said. 

Coulson nodded at her to continue. 

“I’ve done some research and there’s a few methods that people have tried to help werewolves abstain from a shift with…varying success,” she started. “Most studies have some success with having somebody the werewolves know nearby to distract them and keep them calm.”

“How effective is ‘some success?’” May asked. 

Jemma grimaced. “Not as effective as one would hope, but it’s something. They also tended to have someone else on hand with enhanced strength to subdue the werewolf if they have to.”

“We can work with that. Miss Rodriguez, don’t you know Alphonso Mackenzie rather well?” Coulson asked. 

“I’d say so,” Elena said with a smirk.

“He’s, what, a demigod? I think he’ll work for this situation.”

“My boyfriend is on the rugby team,” Joey offered. Coulson looked skeptical.

“I’ve seen him play. He can do it,” May said. 

Daisy fidgeted. She didn’t exactly have a demigod she wanted to spend the night with. 

“I can watch Daisy,” Jemma said. 

Daisy’s gaze whipped to her. 

“Are you sure?” Coulson asked. 

Jemma gulped. “Yes.”

Jemma’s silver knife and terror the first time they met in the woods flashed in Daisy’s mind. “But I thought—”

“I know,” Jemma said. “I’m not leaving you alone or with a stranger for this, though.”

Daisy’s heart swelled again and she had the intense urge to sweep Jemma up in her arms. 

“Now that that’s sorted out, you all are free to go,” Coulson said. “I’ll need to speak to each of your companions before tonight to debrief them. Miss Simmons, could you hold back for a moment?”

Daisy followed Elena and Joey out of the room and hovered outside the door to wait for Jemma. 

“I can’t believe their solution is to lock us in a cage,” Elena griped. 

“I’m seriously considering transferring schools,” Joey said. 

Daisy shrugged. “We just have to deal with it for one night. Then, we have a whole month to come up with a plan.”

“A plan?”

Daisy nodded. “We’re not just going to sit around and wait for an investigation to come up with nothing. We’re taking the fight to them.”

Daisy swore that Elena’s wolf form appeared for a moment from the sharpness of her grin. 

Joey shifted. “Isn’t that a good way to get ourselves shot?”

“Not if we’re smart about it,” Daisy said. “Which we will be. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Elena and Joey nodded and headed down the hall just as Jemma slipped out of Coulson’s office. She hastily shoved something in a bag and her eyes looked tight. 

“Everything okay?” Daisy asked. 

“Fine.” Jemma responded. “They just wanted to give me some advice for tonight. We should get something to eat.”

Daisy eyed her suspiciously, but followed Jemma to get some breakfast. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daisy frowned at the Scrabble board as Jemma meticulously laid out all of her tiles on the board. 

“What does that even mean?” she grumbled. 

“I can look it up—”

“No, it’s fine. I believe you that it’s a real word.”

Daisy tried not to sound too irritated, but failed. The sun had just set and she was already starting to get stir-crazy sitting in Jemma’s apartment. 

She and the pack—what remained of the pack— spent the entire day outside in an attempt to burn off as much energy as possible. They went on a jog through the town and then back to campus until all of them were about to collapse, but it still wasn’t enough. Once the sun started to sink, they checked in with Coulson and May, met up with their babysitters for the night, and reluctantly went their separate ways. 

Daisy had seen the burly guys Elena and Joey were spending their evening with and got the feeling that Jemma was woefully underprepared to restrain Daisy if she had to. Though, the bag that she had with her when they left Coulson’s office was sitting on the end table and Daisy couldn’t help but wonder what was in it. 

Jemma eyed Daisy. She had been doing that all night. It was like she was waiting for Daisy to explode or something. Given the situation, she probably was. 

Still, the staring was irritating her. Daisy groaned and pushed herself to her feet. The sitting down was also irritating her. 

Jemma sighed, muttered something about tea, and headed into the kitchen. Daisy strolled to the window and nudged the curtain aside. She couldn't see the rising moon from this side of the building, but she could feel it. This side of campus was quiet, since all the Erebus students had been corralled into the dorm as soon as the sun went down. 

Her attention was dragged back to the bag on the end table and her curiosity won out. She tiptoed over to the end table and gently poked the edge of the canvas bag open. 

And then a pale hand slapped over it. 

“What are you doing?” Jemma snapped. 

Daisy lurched. Curse those sneaky vampire skills. 

“Being nosy,” Daisy said. No point in lying. “What did Coulson give you earlier?”

“None of your business,” Jemma replied, grabbing the bag. 

Bullshit. “Really? Because he gave it to you right after you guys talked about babysitting me tonight. Kinda seems like it might have something to do with that.”

Jemma just glared. Daisy weighed her odds and dove for the bag. Jemma slid out of her path. 

Oh, that’s how it’s going to be? Daisy didn’t care as much about the contents of the bag as she did this new game. Wolf-brain equated this with the teasing games she played with the pack and was suddenly laser-focused on winning. 

Daisy dove for the bag again, only to have Jemma shift out of the way again. Daisy smirked. She feigned one way and, anticipating Jemma’s dodge, slid the opposite at the last second. Her hand wrapped around the canvas of the bag and she internally cheered in victory. 

Jemma’s tossed the bag into her other hand and snapped her fingers around Daisy’s wrist. 

She was suddenly very close. Her eyes were hard as they bored into Daisy’s. Daisy’s gaze flicked down and the memory of Jemma’s teeth on her neck surfaced. She felt the flush creeping up her face and tugged her wrist free. 

“Fine, don’t tell me,” Daisy grumbled. She turned her back to Jemma and headed back to the window, hoping Jemma didn’t notice her blush. 

Jemma was quiet for a long minute. She took a few steps closer to Daisy and a small clink echoed from the coffee table. Daisy spun. A tiny vial filled with a glowing blue liquid sat on the table. 

“The school counselor gave you drugs?” Daisy guessed. 

Jemma fidgeted. “It’s a high-strength sedative. Coulson had Bobbi brew it when he realized he would have to lock you all in tonight. Because she didn’t have all the proper ingredients, she had to improvise. It’s untested and potentially dangerous, so I’m not going to use it. He gave it to me as a worst case scenario, but—”

“Yes, you are.”

Jemma blinked. “What?”

“Going to use it,” Daisy clarified. “In the worst case, you’re going to use it.”

Jemma looked appalled. “But…I have no idea what kind of side effects it might have, or if it even—”

“Jemma!” Daisy interrupted. “I want you to use it. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt you. I’ll take whatever side effects to avoid that.”

Jemma scanned her face, but Daisy wasn’t wavering. If it made Jemma safer tonight, Daisy wasn’t going to change her mind. 

“Fine.” 

Jemma pulled something else out of the bag, snapped the vial into it, and slammed it back on the coffee table. It was gun-shaped and had a wicked-looking needle poking out of the barrel. 

“Happy?” Jemma snapped. She glared at the object in disgust and then marched into the kitchen. 

“Yikes,” Daisy muttered. Hopefully, they wouldn’t need it after all. 

She pushed the curtains open and peered onto the grounds. The moon was starting to cast long shadows over the grass and Daisy knew things were going to get unpleasant soon.

No sooner had the thought crossed her mind, when whooping and laughter echoed across the lawn. Daisy frowned. No one was supposed to be out right now and human students never wandered over to this side of campus. 

Daisy pressed her face closer to the glass to try to see the culprits. Eventually, they came into view, camouflage-clad, toting large rifles, and with dog-shaped masks over their faces as they shoved and laughed with each other. 

It was the Watchdogs. 

Daisy snarled. “What the _hell_ are they—”

It was that moment when the muscle spasms started. 

Daisy cried out and braced herself on the windowsill. Her muscles twitched and shifted under her skin to make space for her bones to remodel, but she fought them. She clenched every muscle in her body to hold them in place. 

“Daisy!”

Jemma’s voice vaguely echoed in her ears, but Daisy’s attention was occupied. She felt cool hands on her, moving her away from the window and growled. The last thing she wanted right now was someone touching her. If she wasn’t already paralyzed, she would have snapped at the hands. 

Through the pain, Daisy felt confusion echoing from the back of her mind. Why was she fighting it all of a sudden? 

Daisy cracked her eyes open. Her hands were leaving gouges in Jemma’s (probably antique) dining room table and there were gun-toting werewolf-hunting, psychos outside. That’s why she was fighting it. 

Even though she could easily rip those psychos’ arms off.

A voice—a real one, not just an echo in Daisy’s head—drilled through her ears with calming, placating words that Daisy couldn’t fully hear. Her gaze snapped up to the speaker with her teeth bared.

It was Jemma. You like Jemma, remember?

But Jemma was looking at the tranquilizer on the coffee table between Daisy and herself. 

 _No, weapons bad,_ wolf brain thought. 

Don’t you _dare_.

Jemma dove for the tranquilizer and Daisy dove for Jemma. Daisy tried to wrestle control of her body away from wolf-brain, but it was like she was trapped in a runaway train. Even with her muscles wound as tight as a spring, Daisy managed to beat Jemma to the tranquilizer and pinned her to the wall with her forearm pressed into Jemma’s chest. 

She growled in an attempt to communicate, ‘submit, I won,’ to someone she knew didn’t speak wolf. Jemma froze. Whatever calming words she had been preparing died in her throat. Jemma’s heart raced, thundering an erratic beat against Daisy’s arm. 

Stop it, stop it, _stop it!_ Daisy shrieked at herself. 

No matter how hard she fought, she couldn’t stop herself from surging forwards. 

Her lips crashed into Jemma’s and the tension in her body melted away. 

Wait…What? Daisy thought. 

 _You want this,_ was the reply. 

I do? 

Jemma’s hands hovered on Daisy’s hips for a moment, before fisting in the hem of her shirt and pulling her closer. 

A groan crept out of Daisy’s throat. _Okay, you’re right._

She deepened the kiss. Her tongue slid along the seam of Jemma’s lips. The arm pressed into Jemma’s chest slid around the back of her neck to pull her even closer. She scraped her teeth along Jemma’s lower lip, pulling a slight gasp from her. 

“Daisy,” Jemma whispered. 

A shudder of heat jolted through Daisy’s body. She liked that. She wondered how many ways she could make Jemma say her name. 

Her lips slid low on Jemma’s neck and found two tiny, scarred puncture marks at the joint of Jemma’s neck and shoulder. As soon as the pressure of Daisy’s lips hit them, another gasp slid from Jemma’s and her fingers dug into Daisy’s hips. Daisy’s fingers toyed with the button on the front of Jemma’s pants. 

“ _Daisy_.”

Okay, that wasn’t quite the tone Daisy was hoping for. That sounded a bit… _stern_. Maybe she should try a different spot.

One of Jemma’s hands snapped from Daisy’s hip, up the back of her neck, and tangled in her hair. With a harsh tug, she detached Daisy from her neck. Daisy whined low in her throat. 

Jemma was wrecked. Her face was flushed, her pupils dilated, and Daisy swore she saw her fangs peeking out of her lips as she caught her breath. _What’d I do wrong?_  

“Daisy. I need to know,” Jemma panted. “Do _you_ want this?”

Daisy frowned. That seemed like a stupid question. How else was she supposed to answer that then by doing what she was doing.

Jemma sighed and used her grip on Daisy’s hair to angle her so she had no choice but to stare Jemma straight in the eyes. 

“Do you want this or is this the effect of the full moon? Tell me the truth,” Jemma commanded. 

The rest of the room around Daisy faded to black as her world slimmed to only Jemma and her demand. _This must be what that mind-control thing feels like full force._

Daisy’s knees shook. However Jemma was doing this, it felt like wolf-brain was being forcibly removed from the controls of Daisy’s body, until it was just her in her brain. The echo of the command reached into Daisy’s throat and pulled her answer out. 

“I want you,” she choked. 

That was apparently good enough for Jemma. She surged forward and sighed into Daisy’s mouth. She pushed herself off the wall and pulled Daisy towards her bedroom. 

Daisy was too impatient for that. She grabbed Jemma by the hips and turned them around. Once the back of Jemma’s knees hit the arm of the couch, she leaned into her until they both tumbled onto it. Jemma hooked her hands into the backs of Daisy’s knees and tugged them to either side of her hips.

Whistling and clicking from outside pulled Daisy’s—or rather, wolf-brain’s—attention. She cocked her head to listen. The Watchdogs below the window called, “here, doggies,” between whistling and laughing derisively. Wolf-brain reminded Daisy of how easy it would be to disembowel them and a snarl ripped from her throat. 

Then, a hand under her jaw angled her back down and Jemma’s tongue slid into her mouth. Daisy melted. 

Eviscerating the Watchdogs could wait. She had better things to do. 

Daisy supposed this situation should feel weird; her on top of her best friend, grinding her hips down, Jemma’s fingers digging into her upper thighs. 

It didn’t, though. She felt like a puzzle piece snapping into its slot. 

The Watchdogs mimicked howling outside the window, but Daisy ignored it. She burrowed her face into Jemma’s neck and inhaled her scent. The same one she smelled every month when she tracked Jemma through the woods. It wasn’t as strong as when Daisy was in wolf form, but it still was familiar, warm, and felt like home. 

But there was too much separating them. And the room was sweltering. 

Daisy whipped her shirt off and slid her fingers under the hem of Jemma’s. She pressed her lips along the cool skin of Jemma’s torso and chest, chasing the edge of the shirt as she shimmied it over Jemma’s head. Jemma arched into her touch and sighed. 

Her hands trailed down towards the waistband of Jemma’s pants, but Jemma beat her to the punch. Once her arms were free from the sleeves of her shirt, Jemma’s hands returned to Daisy’s hips and pushed her pants down them. Daisy shifted enough that she could slide them off and kick them to the floor. 

Daisy slid down to support herself on her elbows to eliminate some of the space between her body and Jemma’s, while Jemma’s thumbs traced circles on her thighs. To her mind, this was plenty, but she also wanted more. She met Jemma’s lips again, with urgency this time. 

Jemma got the message. Her hand slid up the inside of Daisy’s thigh and ghosted over her folds. Daisy growled impatiently and nipped Jemma’s lower lip. She met Jemma’s eyes and they had a mischievous twinkle in them. 

Without a warning, she plunged a finger into Daisy’s core. Daisy gasped only to have the sound swallowed by Jemma pulling her down for a heated kiss. 

Jemma languidly thrust her fingers, slowly building the pressure in Daisy’s gut. Daisy returned her attention to the two sensitive scars on Jemma’s neck in an attempt to encourage her to move faster. 

Jemma continued her slow ministrations until Daisy scraped her teeth along the spot. She groaned, curled her fingers, and she pressed the heel of her hand into Daisy’s clit which pushed her over the edge. Daisy sank her teeth into Jemma’s shoulder to keep herself from crying out (she knew Jemma didn’t have any neighbors, but she still wanted to be considerate). 

She rested her forehead against Jemma’s as she caught her breath. Her eyes found Jemma’s and she couldn’t help the chuckle that bubbled out of her. Jemma frowned, but had an amused smirk on her lips. 

“What?” she asked.

Daisy shook her head. “Just wondering why we waited so long to do that.”

“You tell me,” Jemma muttered, arching up to meet Daisy’s lips. 

Daisy pulled a fake shocked face. “You’re saying _I’m_ the slow one.”

“Yes. But you caught on eventually, so it’s fine.”

Daisy snorted. “You could have made it more obvious for me.”

Jemma hummed. “Probably.”

The energy of the moon was rapidly fading. Daisy’s eyelids felt heavy and she tried to fight the exhaustion. Jemma stilled Daisy’s hands with her own. 

“Go to sleep,” she whispered. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

Daisy hummed in acknowledgement and nestled down against Jemma to let sleep take her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a little while since I wrote anything smutty, but if any slow burn needed it, it's this one. I've been wanting to write this scene for awhile so FINALLY. Plus, I felt like I should follow up that sad chapter with something a little more fun. Enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt on tumblr, as usual. This one meant to be a simple oneshot when I started plotting it out, but it may be spiraling into another monster project (pun intended). Let me know if any of y'all would be interested in a continuation of this, either here or on my tumblr (sad-trash-writing.tumblr.com)  
> Enjoy!~


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